‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ Could Open with Over $50 Million
The supernatural horror movie Five Nights at Freddy's is tracking for a surprising $50-million opening. Based on a video game about possessed animatronic mascots at an abandoned family entertainment center, Five Nights at Freddy's stars Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Matthew Lillard.
As reported by Deadline, Five Nights at Freddy's has already pulled in about $11 million in presale tickets. Some exhibitors are projecting an opening weekend as high as $85 million, but $50 million seems more within the realm of reason since the Emma Tammi-directed movie is premiering simultaneously on Peacock. A reasonable comparison is last year's Halloween Ends, which had a $40-million opening weekend and also concurrently streamed on Peacock. Enthusiasm for Five Nights at Freddy's seems higher than the poorly reviewed final chapter in David Gordon Green's Halloween trilogy, so a $50-million opening could happen.
Five Nights at Freddy's Is Likely to Spawn a New Horror Trilogy
If Five Nights at Freddy's is successful, it could mark the start of a new horror trilogy. In an interview on the WeeklyMTG podcast, Lillard reveals, “I just got cast in a movie called Five Nights at Freddy's. It's very fun, it's a three-picture deal with Universal and Blumhouse. So, unfortunately, my day job is taking me off to work.”
The official Universal one-pager for Five Nights at Freddy's reads as follows:
Can you survive five nights?
The terrifying horror game phenomenon becomes a blood-chilling cinematic event, as Blumhouse— the producer of M3GAN, The Black Phone and The Invisible Man— brings Five Nights at Freddy’s to the big screen.
The film follows a troubled security guard as he begins working at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. While spending his first night on the job, he realizes the night shift at Freddy’s won’t be so easy to make it through.
The film stars Josh Hutcherson (Ultraman, The Hunger Games franchise), Elizabeth Lail (You, Mack & Rita), Piper Rubio (Holly & Ivy, Unstable), Kat Conner Sterling (We Have a Ghost, 9-1-1), with Mary Stuart Masterson (Blindspot, Fried Green Tomatoes) and Matthew Lillard (Good Girls, Scream).
Five Nights at Freddy’s is directed by Emma Tammi (The Wind, Blood Moon) and is written by Scott Cawthon, Emma Tammi, and Seth Cuddeback.
The film’s iconic animatronic characters will be created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.
Five Nights at Freddy's will premiere simultaneously in theaters and on the Peacock streaming service on October 27, just in time for Halloween.
Robert DeSalvo is a professional writer and editor with over 25 years of experience at print and online publications such as Movieline, Playboy, PCH, Fandango, and The A.V. Club. He currently lives in Los Angeles, the setting of his favorite movie, Blade Runner. Robert has interviewed dozens of actors, directors, authors, musicians, and other celebrities during his journalism career, including Brian De Palma, Nicolas Cage, Dustin Hoffman, John Waters, Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, Bryan Cranston, Anne Rice, and many more. Horror movies, sci-fi, cult films as well as gothic, postpunk, and synthwave music are what Robert geeks over.
