A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 (2013 film)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 is a 2013 sequel to 2010 remake of the planned rebooted A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, and tenth Nightmare film overall, was released on April 26, 2013. It is a remake of 1987 film, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, which will continue on from the first film. Jackie Earle Haley and Rooney Mara returned to this film. This mark as the acting debut of both One Direction member Harry Styles and singer-rapper Sean Kingston. The film was be available in IMAX theaters worldwide on April 26, 2013. A sequel will be released on April 25, 2014.

Plot
Brooke Allen (Kathryn Newton) was up late at night drawing a pre-school. While trying not to sleep because of the nightmares she has had, her mother Lisa Allen (Téa Leoni) forced her to get some sleep. As she fell asleep, she dreams a preschool where she attends as kid. She gets attacked by a burned man named Freddy Kruger (Jackie Earle Haley). After waking up, she is still dreaming, as Freddy scraps her arm with his long fingernails appearing to be a suicide attempt in reality. She is taken to Mercy's hospital. Brooke's father Dr. Harold Allen (David Duchovny) works there and helps her daughter and other patients from suffering nightmares. Brooke's two best friends Chad Brown (Harry Styles), a quiet young man who cannot speak, and Seth Cleveland (Sean Kingston), a tough kid with anger issues, also involved nightmares as they met other patients Tina White, Daphne Cooper (Jennifer Stone), Lance Harris (Jake Goldberg) and Carter Phillips (Jake Abel). She also met new staff member Nancy Holbrook (Rooney Mara). As Brooke falls asleep again, she is attacked by Freddy and pulls Nancy into her dreams just in time to rescue her from being eaten by Freddy snake. Nancy reveals that Brooke has the ability to pull people into dreams. Freddy later kills off two patients; Carter and Daphne. After the situation that the nightmare they are having are out of control, Nancy confirmed to the kids that they all went to preschool with Freddy Kruger. She also says that after all of the kids who went to preschool with Freddy, they all got killed in real life, and they are the last Elm Street children. She explained to them that Freddy Kruger is a child abuser, and parents of Elm Street has tortured him for hurting children. Nancy orders Brooke to bring patients to her dreams. As she did, Chad gets captured by Freddy, where it reveals he is in a deep coma in real life. As things did not got well despite that Carter and Daphne were killed and Chad in a serious coma, the manager fires Nancy and Harold. Furious about their departing, Brooke gets taken into a quiet room while she accidentally fell asleep while escaping only to be attacked and wounded by Freddy until she gets pulled out by the doctors for a rescue and takes her to the quiet room. With the help of Nancy's father Steve Holbrock (Thomas Gibson), he and Harold headed to the junkyard, where they got attacked by skeletons that kills Steve and left Harold unconscious. Nancy decides to return to the hospital and help Seth, Tina and Lance rescue Chad by getting Brooke in the quiet room. As they all went to sleep, Freddy separates them, and kills Tina and Lance. However, Nancy reunites with Brooke and Seth, and rescue Chad. The group barely defeats Freddy after Chad rescues his friends with his dream power; his loud voice, until a sprit Steve shows up. When Nancy hugs her father, Freddy tricks Nancy being her dad as he stabs Nancy in the abdomen and attacks Brooke. Before Freddy can kill her, Nancy rescues her by stabbing Freddy with his own glove. Harold, who woke up from unconsciousness, sprinkles the holy water on the skeleton as Freddy disappears. Brooke, crying, promises dying Nancy to put her into a beautiul dream forever. After Nancy and Steve's funeral, Brooke was released by Harold's father from the hospital. At the park, the reflection of Freddy in the ocean grabs Harold and kills him before pulling him into the water while Brooke screams.

Development
On January 29, 2008, Variety reported that Michael Bay and his Platinum Dunes production company would be rebooting the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise with a remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) besides continuing on for A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985). In an interview, producer Brad Fuller initially explained that they were following the same line they did with their Friday the 13th remake]], by abandoning the things that made the character less scary—the film's antagonist, Freddy Krueger, would not be "cracking jokes" as had become a staple of his character in later films—and focusing more on trying to craft a "horrifying movie". Fuller expressed how everyone at the studio loved the concept of being killed if you fell asleep. The producer stated that the film would be a remake of the 1984 film, but clarified that they would be borrowing certain character deaths and dream sequences from the entire Nightmare series.

Following the success of the A Nightmare on Elm Street remake, New Line Cinema and Platinum Dunes are hoping that they could reboot the entire franchise to continue about others facing horrible dreams about child abuser, and hopefully have even much darker tone in every film one-by-one. Jackie Earle Haley confirmed that a sequel to 2010 remake will follow up a remake to 1987 film A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors besides the 1985 original sequel to follow up a store about Nancy surviving for the rest of her life. Samuel Bayer, who directed the first film, will return as director for A Nightmare on Elm Street II. He hopes that the film will be as darker as the previous film.

About making a sequel, the studio is nervous because they have no idea what will the film will go next. But remaking Dream Warriors may not be used, but will have to figure out how they are going to make a movie without copying the scenes from Dream Warriors. Although, director says that they should reused the scene that the staff members has made for Dream Warriors and recreate them to make them much darker and more fitting for the sequel. In A Nightmare on Elm Street II, they want the film to focus on new characters facing their fears from a horribly burned man named Freddy Krueger besides Nancy, who is still part as a main character. The studio hopes that they could do some project the same way like the original Nightmare franchise to build up the rebooted franchise as a fresh start for the new generation.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 will set five years after A Nightmare on Elm Street where new characters are now facing against him. Nancy, who now works at the hospital, will help them face their fears and defeat the man who is killing people in their sleeps.

Casting
Jackie Earle Haley and Rooney Mara both are interested in reprising their roles. Haley's character Freddy is back and more evil than before. Mara's character Nancy is now a worker at the hospital and helps the new kids to overcome their fears from the dreams about a burn man named Freddy Krueger, she also faced years ago. Kathryn Newton is cast to play as Brooke Brown, remake of Kristen Parker (Patricia Arquette/Tuesday Knight). Newton states that her storyline is very similar than Kristen (played by Arquette in Dream Warriors and Knight in The Dream Master). One Direction member Harry Styles begins his acting debut after he accepts the role of Chad Crawford, the remake of character Joey Crusel (Rodney Eastman). Styles does not know how he can speak in American accent, but it was confirmed that he has been practicing by staff members to speak in American accent and has never being into acting roles before and is very nervous. Jamaican-American singer Sean Kingston also makes his acting debut as character Seth Cleveland, remake of Ronald Kincaid (Ken Sagoes). Jennifer Stone, Jake Goldberg and Emmy Clarke were cast to play as three more patients of Mercy's Hospital, Daphne Cooper, Lance Brooks and Tina White. Clarke portrays as character Tina White, a girl who has drug issues. Clarke states that her character is having problems in her life that she could not take care off, especially herself. Goldberg, who portrays Lance, is a character who is in a wheel chair suffering horrible nightmares about a burned man named Freddy Krueger. Stone, who portrays Daphne, is a character wanting to become an actress has been suffering horrible nightmares about burned man named Freddy Krueger. Jake Abel plays as patient Carter Phillips.

Characters comparing from Dream Warriors has made a lot of changes. Their names have been changed especially the main characters. To avoid confusion, all of the names must be changed, except for previous character Nancy Holbrook. Brooke Henry is the new version of Kristen Parker (Patricia Arquette/Tuesday Knight), Caleb Crawford is the new Joey Crusel, and Seth Cleveland is the new Ronald Kincaid. About Brooke, Chad and Cleveland, the trio are to be the new lead characters who are suffering nightmares because of horribly burned named Freddy Krueger taking over their dreams, threaten the kids not to sleep again. Newton describes her character [Brooke]: "a cute and shy girl with very special powers." New Line Cinemas expresses that Brooke has a lot of familar express from Kristen Parker, played by Patricia Arquette in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and Tuesday Knight in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. Newton expresses that her character Brooke is having terrible nightmares, and has a very special talent that she has never had ever since she was little... the power that can pull people into dreams. Styles, who portrayed Chad, states his character is always into girls. He has never been given a script until his character is spoken until the conclusion. Seth, portrayed by Sean Kingston, is described by Kingston as "a big black guy with a bad attitude". Téa Leoni and ex-husband David Duchovny portayed as Brooke's divorced parents, Lisa and Harold. Lisa is Brooke's mother who does not get along with husband and Brooke's dad Harold. Although, he did get along with their daughter Brooke. Harold is Brooke's father. He works at the hospital and does get along with daughter, but not her mother. He helps daughter to get over her fears from her nightmares she suffered about a burned man named Freddy Krueger.

Filming
New Line Cinemas wants the sequel to be a remake of Dream Warriors so they will have to add some scenes to this film, and make a lot of changes for the film because it's the only idea of keeping the franchise alive in a new start. The studio also adds A Nightmare on Elm Street 2's production budget to $40 million, $5 million more than the first film ($35 million). Filming for A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 took place from April 14, 2012 to July 10, 2012. Platinum Dunes states that production for the sequel will return to Illinois. Platinum Dunes wants the sequel also to take place in the hospital when most patients are being attacked by Freddy Krueger much like the idea that is taken from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987). The hospital scene took place at the Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The scene where A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 took place at a pre-school was taken. They want the film to take place where characters are having dreams at like Brooke. The hallway scene will also be included with Brooke is about to be eaten by a snake. That scene was taken from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987). A lot of special effects for the snake are being used. The snake will be much darker and more scarier looking than the snake from Dream Warriors. The wanted the film to have a snake scene in the remake because it's the only idea for what they want the film to include next. The junkyard scene will be included into the film like Dream Warriors. The junkyard will be a lot bigger and with a lot of room comparing than the original from Dream Warriors, and also looking forward to return to the set for the third film.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 will be released only in regular screens, not in other formats such as 3D or IMAX. However in 2012, they confirm that they are currently building an idea that they film will be filmed in IMAX. Although, after the finished filming, they are testing and remodeling the film so that they can easily be released everywhere in regular and IMAX screens due by May 31, 2013, the film's release date.

Marketing
The teaser for the film was released on December 14, 2012 right in front of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The trailer runs for just 55 seconds. In the trailer, a character Brooke (Kathryn Newton) is seen entering a pre-school. The school now appears to be burned after a fire taking from the first film where Nancy burns down Freddy's secret room causing the entire building to burn down. She enters the school and sees a little girl playing around. As Brooke finally finds her, she heard footsteps and she took her to a hiding spot. Even though she did find a perfect place to hid, it appears that they were inside a secret room and a little girl told Brooke that Freddy is behind her and he attacks her. The theatrical poster for the film was released on February 14, 2013. A full length trailer was released on March 5, 2013 featuring a couple of new scenes such as Brooke fighting against Freddy, Brooke getting eaten by a snake, injured Nancy fighting Freddy rescuing Brooke, Chad gets kidnapped by Freddy and many more.

Theatrical release
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 was released in the United States on April 26, 2013. The film will be released in midnight screenings the day before on April 25, 2013 at 12:01 am, an early April 26, 2013 morning. The film will make it's theatrical release in the United Kingdom on June 7, 2013, a week after the US's premiere. Warner Bros. confirms that the film will also be released in IMAX theaters nationwide on May 31, 2013, same day as the film's release.

On January 2013, the film's release date has now moved a month early from May 31, 2013 to April 26, 2013 nationwide for some reasons. It was rumored that the reason why WB moved the film's release date early is because they tried to make the film to be avoid from being attacked at the tight box office results. But the studios denied, stating that they just want to move the release date early because they already finished production already. After it moved, some posters still have the film's original date. However, the posters will rerelease the posters in stores with a new release dates, to avoid confusion. The film's release date is also the same week as the release of the first film, which was released on April 30, 2010.

Also, the film's release date in the United Kingdom also changed. It has now rescheduled to be released in that country on May 3, 2013. Starting on March 29, 2013, tickets for the film went on sale. On April 18, 2013, the film's world premiere was held in California. As the film is released nationwide, the new trailer for Heroes: The Ultimate Power was released.

Critical response
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 was listed in the top 25 as one of 2013's most anticipated films ever. It has much better critics than the first film. As of April 24, 2013, Rotten Tomatoes score the film a negative 25%, a much better rating than the first film, which ranked 15%, also negative. It scored a better 4.5 out of 10, where they state that the "rebooted franchise is starting off in a pitiful way, and we are loving the original ones." CinemaScore gave the film B- on a A+ to F- scale, better score than the first film, which scored a C+.

Box office
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 first opened on April 25, 2013 for the late night showings, and than nationwide on April 26, 2013. It opens in 3,425 theaters, and 295 IMAX theaters domestically, and project for a $38 million opening, the second best opening for a horror film. The film sets a record as the biggest midnight opening for a horror film in approximately 1,419 theaters earning $2.1 million. The film set an opening day record for a horror film earning $21.5 million, surprising Friday the 13th ($19.6 million), and second largest of the year behind Oz the Great and Powerful ($24.2 million).

The film than took first place with $50.6 million in its' opening weekend, the third biggest 2013 opening behind Iron Man 3 ($174.1 million) and Oz the Great and Powerful ($79.1 million) and biggest opening for a horror film beating 2009 remake Friday the 13th ($40.5 million). The film also scored the best opening in the Nightmare franchise surprising 2010 remake as well as predecessor A Nightmare on Elm Street ($32.9 million). In it's second weekend, the film dropped 75% earning $9.8 million, bringing its total to $65.6 million. It lost the #1 spot to Iron Man 3 ($174.1 million). It had a bigger drop than the first film, which fell 72% in its opening weekend. It was the first horror film to open to around $50 million in its opening weekend. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 pulls ahead of A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) ($49 million) and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) ($44 million) in its opening weekend.

Sequel
Wes Craven states that three more films will be made, as he planned for rebooting the entire franchise. The third installment, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, will be a remake to the 1988 fourth installment of the original franchise, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, to continue the story after A Nightmare on Elm Street 2. The third film has already confirmed its release date for April 25, 2014. Wesley Strick is currently working on writing a script for the third film. The film is currently entitled A Nightmare on Elm Street 3. Director of the film states that the survivors will return for the third film as they are now teaming with newcomers to fight against Freddy following the death of their beloved friend, who got killed by Freddy. Bella Thorne is aiming to play the role as Alice Hunter, the remake of character Alice Johnson. They confirmed that filming for A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 will begin production in May 2013. Also, it was rumored that R5 member Ross Lynch will be starring into the film, making it his very first theatrical film he starred in his career. Newton, Styles and Kingston all signed up to reprise their roles as Brooke Allen, Chad Brown and Seth Cleveland after the sequel. Newcomers Bella Thorne and Ross Lynch are expected to star as new characters. The two will be playing the siblings, Alice and Robbie. Alice (Thorne) is a new friend of Brooke, and Kyle (Lynch) is Alice's brother and Brooke's boyfriend. Steven Weber is cast to play as Alice and Kyle's mean father, who treats the both of them like trash for their entire life since their mother died from breast cancer. Like his One Direction member Styles, Zayn Malik will also make his acting debut as a new character as Dave Jones, remake of Dan Jordan from A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. Malik's character is subscribed as a high school jock and Alice's secret crush. Following the IMAX success of the second film, the third film will most likely be filmed in IMAX and set to be released in IMAX theaters nationwide on April 25, 2014.