Well, that didn’t take long: with more than $30 million in the bank after one weekend in the States, the remake of dream demon thriller A Nightmare On Elm Street seems to have Warners ready to open the coffers to develop a sequel in – ironic drum roll please – 3D.
"We don't have a story yet, but this is the largest horror opening in the April-May corridor, and it just proves there's a lot left in the franchise," Warner distribution president Dan Fellman tells The Wrap.
Despite the middling critical notices, that strong first weekend at the box office means that the production team at Platinum Dunes can begin working on the next film.
While Jackie Earle Haley, barring a sudden allergy to the make-up, looks set to return, director Samuel Bayer might not be so ready for Freddy again. “Platinum Dunes is very open to the possibility of a Nightmare sequel,” producer Andrew Form told Dread Central. “It would be amazing to work with Jackie and the cast again. Unfortunately, as far as we know right now, Sam wouldn’t be back to direct the follow-up, but we’d love to come back to Elm Street because Freddy always has a story to tell. We definitely left ourselves open for a sequel so it would be a great privilege to get to do another Nightmare film."
And though we’re sure they’ll find a way to make it fit into their philosophy, the producers seemed careful not to commit to 3D without a good idea behind it. I think that making the Nightmare sequel in 3D is a bigger discussion than for right here," says fellow producer Brad Fuller. "We think that 3D movies have to be designed and written as such. If Eric Heisserer and Wesley Strick came to us with a Nightmare script that is for a 3D movie, we’d be fools not to make it.”
If Clash Of The Titans has taught us anything, it's that even if the Dunes team opt not to make it 3D, Warner Bros. has the means to do it for them. And even Michael Bay might not be able to stop it.
But let's not consider it as hitting cinemas just yet - after all, Paramount seemed all systems go on a new Friday The 13th after that remake did decent business, but Jason Voorhees is still moldering away after a recent reversal..