Claim: A Nightmare on Elm Street was intended as a reboot.

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 2010 American slasher film directed by Samuel Bayer and written by Wesley Strick and Eric Heisserer as a remake of Wes Craven 's 1984 film of the same name , which revolves around a group of teenagers who are being stalked in their dreams by an enigmatic man named Freddy Krueger .   Michael Bay and Platinum Dunes produced the film for New Line Cinema , as an intention to reboot the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise , with the cast of Jackie Earle Haley , Kyle Gallner , Rooney Mara , Katie Cassidy , Thomas Dekker and Kellan Lutz . This production makes it the ninth installment of the franchise . The film was released by Warner Bros. on April 30 , 2010 . It received mainly negative reviews from critics and grossed $ 115 million against a production budget of $ 35 million , making it the highest-grossing film in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise .