<Tr> <Th> Budget </Th> <Td> $1.8 million </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $25.5 million (US) </Td> </Tr> <P> A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 1984 American slasher film written and directed by Wes Craven, and the first film of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise . The film stars Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Amanda Wyss, Jsu Garcia, Robert Englund and Johnny Depp in his film debut . The plot revolves around four teenagers who are stalked and killed in their dreams (and thus killed in reality) by Freddy Krueger . The teenagers are unaware of the cause of this strange phenomenon, but their parents hold a dark secret from long ago . </P> <P> Craven filmed A Nightmare on Elm Street on an estimated budget of $1.8 million, a sum the film earned back during its first week . The film went on to gross over $25 million at the United States box office . A Nightmare on Elm Street was met with rave critical reviews and went on to make a very significant impact on the horror genre, spawning a franchise consisting of a line of sequels, a television series, a crossover with Friday the 13th, beyond various other works of imitation; a remake of the same name was released in 2010 . </P>

When was the first nightmare on elm street released