'Nightmare on Elm Street' Sequel Already Planned

We wondered if one good day of box office performance would be enough to lead Platinum Dunes and Warner Bros./New Line to move forward with a sequel to Nightmare on Elm Street. Apparently, it is. Film School Rejects says plans are already underway for another Nightmare. 3-D? Do you even have to ask? With an estimated $35 million budget and a $33 million debut, you might wonder why a sequel would be problematic. Simple: Last year's Friday the 13th did more with less and it's not getting a sequel at the moment. The differences in dollars break down like this: Jason cost $19 million and made over $40 in its opening weekend and managed almost $100 million worldwide. Even if Elm Street approaches that much, the profit margin is substantially lower, so where's the logic? And let's not get too caught up in a $33 million start; half of that was Friday, and I think this movie will be lucky to make another $33 million domestically moving forward, based on how quickly these horror remakes fall off. And lest you think this was the plan all along, producer Brad Fuller as recently as last week wouldn't talk about future installments, so why the change? I mean, these guys have been around long enough to know Elm Street could gravy train at least $25 million, so Fuller must have just been acting cautiously. There's no way the producers and the studio looked at the weekend numbers and decided, "Hey, let's put on a show!" And the 3-D I just don't get. I know it's the thing to do, but I can't see how it's going to add any sizzle to a movie even horror fans don't seem too interested in.