A Nightmare on Elm Street is an American horror franchise that consists of nine slasher films, a television series, novels, and comic books. The franchise began with the film A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) created by Wes Craven. The franchise revolves around the fictional character Freddy Krueger, a former child killer who stalks teenagers in their dreams and kills them. His motives were to seek revenge on their parents, who had burned him alive. The original film was written and directed by Craven, who returned to co-script the second sequel, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), and to write and direct New Nightmare (1994). The films collectively grossed over $457 million at the box-office worldwide.