20 Things You Didn’t Know About The Nightmare On Elm Street Franchise

When Wes Craven was pitching his idea of a horror film about a disfigured serial killer who murders children in their dreams, absolutely no studio seemed to want it.

“I knew it was a good yarn, but it took three years of taking this script around to everybody in Hollywood. I have a wonderful old file of rejection letters on this, like Bob Raimi, who was the head of Universal at the time, saying, ‘I just don’t find anything scary in this.’”

For some reason, though, there was one studio that considered making the project: Disney. Yes, Walt Disney Pictures was actually the first studio to show any interest in Nightmare, but they didn’t want it as a violent horror film. They asked Craven to drastically tone down the content so that it could be watched by children. 

So in other words, just make it a whole different movie.

It’s kind of hilarious to imagine a Disney version of Nightmare, although considering how downright terrifying some actual Disney movies are, maybe it isn’t that far-fetched. New Line Cinema would eventually purchase the rights to Nightmare, and the success of the film helped put this struggling, near bankrupt studio on the map. 

Meanwhile, horror fans would forever wonder about an animated Nightmare with wacky side characters and musical numbers.