New ‘Nightmare’ Scares Up $32.2M To Open On Top

Freddy Krueger is raking in cash at the box office again.

A remake of the slasher flick “A Nightmare on Elm Street” led the weekend with a $32.2 million debut. The movie features Jackie Earle Haley as Krueger, a psycho killer who stalks and slays victims in their dreams.

Fright films typically drop steeply in their second weekends, since hardcore horror fans rush out to see them in the first few days. But “A Nightmare on Elm Street” already is headed toward a solid profit after an opening weekend that roughly matched its modest production budget of just over $30 million.

Given the history of slasher sagas — the original 1984 “A Nightmare on Elm Street” was followed by seven sequels — the franchise likely has a long life ahead of it.

“It’s certainly something we would entertain, the same with ‘Friday the 13th,’” another New Line horror series that was revived last year and has a sequel in the works, said Dan Fellman, head of distribution at Warner Bros.

“A Nightmare on Elm Street” was unable to match the fresh start of “Friday the 13th,” whose remake had a $40 million opening weekend in February 2009.

The weekend’s other new wide release, Brendan Fraser’s family comedy “Furry Vengeance,” bombed with just $6.5 million.

In limited release, Sony Pictures Classics’ “Please Give” opened strongly with $128,696 in five theaters, averaging a healthy $25,739 a cinema. That compares with an average of $9,665 in 3,332 theaters for “A Nightmare on Elm Street.”

“Please Give” stars Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt as a Manhattan couple who buy an elderly neighbor’s adjoining apartment — with the stipulation that the old woman can live out her life there before the buyers can do any expanding and remodeling.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” $32.2 million.

2. “How to Train Your Dragon,” $10.8 million.

3. “Date Night,” $7.6 million.

4. “The Back-up Plan,” $7.2 million.

5. “Furry Vengeance,” $6.5 million.

6. “The Losers,” $6 million.

7. “Clash of the Titans,” $5.98 million.

8. “Kick-ass,” $4.5 million.

9. “Death at a Funeral,” $4 million.

10. “Oceans,” $2.6 million.