Lee Cronin’s ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ Reboot Is Dead at Warner Bros, Paramount Now in Charge

Remember when Paramount and Warner Bros. had competing “A Nightmare on Elm Street” movies in the works? Yeah, that's over.

According to Dread Central, Warner's version, which had ‘Evil Dead Rise’ director Lee Cronin in talks to write and direct, has been shelved. That leaves only Paramount Primal with plans to make a new Elm Street movie.

Back in July, Paramount struck a deal with the Wes Craven estate for the U.S. rights to a new film based on Craven's original 1984 screenplay. Warner, which still held the international rights, didn't love that. Puck's Kim Masters reported that the studio was trying to fast-track its own version with Cronin and beat Paramount to cameras.

Then Paramount closed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery in October. Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy were out soon after, and so was their ‘Elm Street.’

The Paramount version is still in development. No writer or director has been set.

Oh, and one more thing: there had been a report that Paramount’s take on ‘Elm Street’ was "drawing from Craven's original screenplay," but a Paramount rep tells me it’ll very much be its own thing. It's certainly not a shot-for-shot remake, let alone a retelling of the exact same story.

As for who should direct, Jane Schoenbrun has publicly expressed interest, but there’s almost zero chance that happens. Parker Finn was circling at one point. He's now busy with his “Possession” remake, but once his schedule frees up, he could be a good candidate for the job, and probably one of the better picks.

Cronin is coming off “Evil Dead Rise,” and his follow-up, “Lee Cronin's The Mummy,” but critics were not kind to both of these. That's two cheap, gory, semi-profitable horror movies in a row, which is exactly why Warner wanted him on Freddy in the first place. My two cents? Cronin can gross you out more than scare you. A "Nightmare on Elm Street" lives or dies on the second one. He was not a good fit.