There was an opening video where writer of the original book Maurice Sendack and director Spike Jonze talked about the approach to the film. Sendack is very, very happy with Jonze’ vision of his original story and couldn’t say enough positive things. He said it is true to the spirit of the book and it’s an expansion of the story.

Today we get our first official look at the new Freddy Krueger in the 21st century remake of the classic horror film franchise, A Nightmare on Elm Street. We’ve had more than enough teen casting announcements to last us a while, and with regards to Freddy himself, we’ve only had the casting news of Jackie Earle Haley getting the role to go on.

IGN has today premiered both the first official photo of Haley as the new Freddy Krueger (there were some set photos released that (not very clearly) showed him pre-burn scars), as well as the first teaser poster for the film (the poster was first snapped at Comic Con).

It’s officially mid-week and here’s what’s going on:

Harry Potter waves his wand at midnight and conjures box office records; the Heathers may be gone for good; Cox and Arquette are Screaming again; Robin Hood has its King Richard; The Limey may get a sequel; it’s a wrap for Nightmare on Elm Street; The Crow will fly again for the first time; Warner Bros. may be returning to the Major League; and The Toronto Film Festival has a list of flicks that could become next year’s greats.

Let’s get to it:

Warner Bros. recently released the lineup of panels they’ll be presenting at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International. So if you are headed to Comic-Con this year and are a fan of Sherlock Holmes, Where The Wild Things Are, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Book Of Eli, Jonah Hex or even The Final Destination, then you’ll need to know where and when to show up for the panels.

Lucky for you Screent Rant loves our readers and has a nice list of the Warner Bros. panels at Comic-Con all ready for you, including the one that is my most anticipated: a preview screening of DC Universe’s animated feature Green Lantern: First Flight!

The type of film that the upcoming Nightmare on Elm Street remake is obviously demands a pretty large cast prime for victimization by the nightmarish villain – in this case, Freddy Krueger. There has already been a lot of casting news so far for this one, consisting of the new Krueger (Watchmen’s Jackie Earle Haley) and a few of the teen characters, namely Thomas Dekker, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara (the new Nancy) and Twilight’s Kellan Lutz.

Well, on the casting front things are certainly not showing signs of slowing down as actress Katie Cassidy has joined the roster.

A new Freddy Krueger, a new Nancy, and a couple more obligatory teens prime for killing have thus far joined the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Watchmen star Jackie Earle Haley was the first cast member to be announced (playing the new Freddy Krueger), then a couple of the teens were cast in the form of Thomas Dekker and Rooney Mara (the new Nancy). And now we have another one of the teen cast spots filled, this time by Twilight star Kellan Lutz.

One of only a plethora of remakes that are in the works is A Nightmare on Elm Street, a remake of the classic ’80s horror movie of the same name. The project was just announced at the beginning of the year, but things are certainly getting going – a few weeks ago Watchmen star Jackie Earle Haley was announced to be the new Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund, you will be missed…), Kyle Gallner (seen most recently in another remake The Haunting in Connecticut) also confirmed, and last week Thomas Dekker was reportedly in final negotiations.

In January, we found out officially that there was going to be a reboot of the classic horror series, A Nightmare on Elm Street. Since then, we’ve heard some updates regarding the plot of the film and in recent weeks, we’ve been seeing steady news about casting decisions.

The major casting news came just over a week ago when it was confirmed that Watchmen star Jackie Earle Haley will be playing the infamous Freddy Krueger in the remake. Adding to the cast, Thomas Dekker who plays John Connor in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, is reportedly in final negotiations to play the role of Jesse in A Nightmare on Elm Street.

This week:

Russell knows Aaron and Sarah; Freddy Krueger claims his first victim; more superheroes in The Umbrella Academy;; Warners dust off an old Goonies 2 script for Treehouse Gang and ever wondered what a movie starring Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, David Spade, Salma Hayek and Maria Bello would be like?

[UPDATE: This has been confirmed - Haley is definitely playing Krueger.]

The guys over at Latino Review broke the story a very early couple of months ago that Rorschach himself, Jackie Earle Haley, was in the running to play the new Freddy Krueger in the upcoming Nightmare on Elm Street remake. However, at that point it was just that Platinum Dunes were looking at him as a possibility.

Fast forward a couple of months and it looks like Haley is, indeed, strongly in the running to play Freddy. In fact, he’s reportedly in absolute final talks to don the striped sweater, adorn the hat and slip his hand into the famous razor glove. If Haley gets the gig, he’ll be directed by Samuel Bayer (previously a music video director) who has already been chosen to helm this remake, and he’ll be shooting by the end of the month.

Although the actual remake of classic ’80s horror flick A Nightmare on Elm Street hasn’t actually begun filming yet (they’re in the midst of the casting stage at the moment), there is already speculation and even excitement gearing up for it by movie fans everywhere.

Well taking things one step further is a man named Christopher Johnson, who has put the time and effort into writing, producing and directing a teaser trailer for the upcoming remake, with himself playing the iconic Freddy Krueger.

The first A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of those classic horror films that just doesn’t warrant being remade. Although fun, the subsequent sequels weren’t up to the level that the first one was, only being made pretty much to milk the idea (if they were all top notch I would think differently).

But they were sequels, the lesser of the two evils – remakes are a different story…

Having hacked and slashed his way to a $70 million worldwide payday, it seems as though Jason Voorhees has made a bigger comeback than Mickey Rourke.

Now as we all know, in the world of Hollywood horror movies, a strong box office take is almost always a go-sign for a string of increasingly terrible sequels (cough, Saw, cough).  Friday The 13th, it seems, is no exception (even though it suffered a brutal 80% drop on its second weekend).

As it stands, Hollywood studios are deadlocked in their contract negotiations with the Screen Actors Guild. That news stirs up foul memories of a year ago, when the Writers Guild of America was at a similar juncture with the studios… Soon after that there were no TV shows for about half a year.

And we all know what that did last year’s TV season.

Man, where does time go?

Hard to believe that The Dark Knight is now a distant memory (well, I can still hear the cash registers ringing).

It’s now time to look forward to a new batch of movies.  This week we have a horror remake bonanza featuring:

Leonardo DiCaprio entering The Twilight Zone, the return of Freddie Kruger in A Nightmare on Elm Street, MGM turn on the television and revisit Poltergeist and The Wolfman goes live.

According to Dictionary.com:

re-boot-ed, re-boot-ing, re-boots
To turn (a computer or operating system) off and then on again; restart.

Until recently I’d never heard this word used in reference to films. I think that the first time was Batman Begins. Now every other film seems to be a “reboot”.

Now A Nightmare on Elm Street is getting the “reboot” treatment via Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes production shingle.

To be honest with you, I’ve never been a fan of the Nightmare films – they’ve never been of much worth, but they were schlocky entertainment and had a certain charm. They were a cheap type of horror that isn’t made by studios anymore.