Five Nights at Freddy's (Film)
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“CAN YOU SURVIVE”
— Tagline, Five Nights at Freddy's
Five Nights at Freddy's is a supernatural horror film based on the video game series of the same name created by Scott Cawthon. Filming began on February 1, 2023, and wrapped up on April 3, 2023, with Emma Tammi directing, Jim Henson's Creature Shop building the film's animatronic cast, and Scott Cawthon Productions and Blumhouse Productions producing the film.
Five Nights at Freddy's was released on Peacock on October 26, 2023, and then released into theaters a day later, on October 27, by Universal Pictures. Critical reception for the film was polarized, with it receiving negative reviews from critics but positive reviews from audiences. It grossed $297.1 million on a $20 million budget as of March 2024, setting box-office records for Blumhouse and becoming the highest-grossing horror film of 2023.
A sequel is currently in production.[6]
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 Mike (Josh Hutcherson; Ultraman, The Hunger Games franchise) a troubled young man caring for his 10-year-old sister Abby (Piper Rubio; Holly & Ivy, Unstable), and haunted by the unsolved disappearance of his younger brother more than a decade before.
Recently fired and desperate for work so that he can keep custody of Abby, Mike agrees to take a position as a night security guard at an abandoned theme restaurant: Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. But Mike soon discovers that nothing at Freddy's is what it seems. With the aid of Vanessa, a local police officer (Elizabeth Lail; You, Mack & Rita), Mike's nights at Freddy's will lead him into unexplainable encounters with the supernatural and drag him into the black heart of an unspeakable nightmare.
The film also stars Mary Stuart Masterson (Blindspot, Fried Green Tomatoes), as Mike's icy Aunt Jane; Kat Conner Sterling (We Have a Ghost, 9-1-1) as Abby's caring babysitter, Max; and Matthew Lillard (Good Girls, Scream) as Steve Raglan, Mike's smug career counselor.
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 is produced by Jason Blum and Scott Cawthon. The film's executive producers are Bea Sequeira, Russell Binder, Marc Mostman and Christopher H. Warner. Universal Pictures presents a Blumhouse production, in association with Striker Entertainment.[7]
At Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place, a once-successful but now abandoned pizzeria and family entertainment center, a night guard desperately attempts to screw open a vent inside the main office, with something outside banging on the Security Office door. He eventually manages to unscrew it and crawls through to the storage room. He sees a locked gate and tries to open it to no avail. An animatronic suddenly charges at him and straps to a chair where an animatronic head gets close to his face with spinning blades. He tries to unscrew the chair but only managing to get one screw off before it goes to his face, brutally killing him off screen. The screen then pans to the main area, the lights still on, and then focuses on a picture of a yellow rabbit holding hands with five other children.
The scene then cuts to mall security guard Mike Schmidt, who wakes up at 6:00AM. He lazily turns off the alarm and puts some pills in the drawer before getting up and doing his workout. He gets dressed and goes to Abby's bedroom only to find her not in bed. He sees her makeshift tent in the corner of the room, with Abby inside. He calls out to her again but she doesn't respond to him. He gets agitated and goes up to the tent, shaking it before she eventually comes out and calls him a jerk. He reminds her that she knows that he has to go to work and to get dressed in 5 minutes, with her responding to him by throwing a teddy bear at him.
The scene cuts to his coworker, Jeremiah reading a book called "Dream Theory" stating "And though the dreamer remains asleep, he walks through memory as if experiencing it for the first time anew. No longer a passenger, but an active participant." Jeremiah laughs at it, asking if its for real. Mike respond that some people think so and that it depends on what you believe. He then talks about how he wishes he was in that scenario and asks if he could keep it, to which Mike declines and takes the book from him.
Afterwards, Mike goes to the Ice Cream Parties area and waits behind a lady who orders a "Walnut Fudge but with the fudge on the side so it won't melt the ice cream, as well as some whipped cream on top and three cherries". Mike notices a young boy on the side, but gets distracted by Cindy who asks him to order and asks if he wants his usual to which he says yes before noticing the child getting taken by a stranger. Mistaking him for a kidnapper, he chases after him throughout the mall and tackles him to the fountain, punching him multiple times before getting subdued by Jeremiah. Mike then visits his career counselor, Steve Raglan, for help on a new job. Steve is baffled by his actions in the mall, the guy having been revealed to actually have been the young boy's father.
Mike proclaims that it was a mistake and a misunderstanding, with Steve Raglan calling out his employment records with him working at "Tire Zone" as a sales associate for two months before getting terminated due to insubordination as well as working at Media World as a custodial staff for only one week before getting fired. He calls out that he thinks he isn't even trying and that it was ironic that he is asking him for help. He says that he is only trying to help and reads out his name before stopping mid-sentence. He leans in for a closer look and suddenly asks for coffee, leaving Mike confused. He pours a cup of coffee and states that his options are really limited due to his bad track record. Mike says that he is willing to take any job, but Steve shuts him down, stating that it's not that easy. Disappointed, Mike gets up to leave the room before Steve calls out to him stating that he has a job for him and asks to sit down. He eventually does sit down and asks what the job is, Steve calling it a security gig. He discloses saying that it's not great because of the high-turnover but that he can be his own boss. He also states that he only has to worry about one thing; Keeping people out and making sure that the place is tidy, Mike correcting him afterwards stating that that's two things. He looks at him disappointingly before asking if he wants the job or not. Mike asks how the pay is, with Steve stating that its not great and that the hours are worse. He thinks about it before saying that he can't do nights, with Steve saying that its such a shame. Mike goes to leave but Steve stops him, handing him his business card so he could call him if he has a change of heart.
Mike then returns home, ripping off a paper about overdue rent payment, and says hello to Maxine after babysitting Abby. She sits on the couch watching a ring commercial, calling out that she wishes that someone would buy her a ring.
On his first night, Mike falls asleep and dreams about his brother, Garrett's, kidnapping and presumed murder, a dream he had the night before; the only difference being that Mike sees five children who witnessed the crime. When Mike tries to approach them, they run away. On the second night, Mike's dream is repeated, but when he attempts to confront one of the children, he is attacked and wakes up. Mike meets police officer Vanessa Shelly, who notices his wounds and patches him up. Vanessa shows him around the restaurant and tells him that it closed in the 1980s after five children were murdered there; their bodies were never found.
Jane hires a gang of vandals to vandalize the restaurant in order to get Mike fired, an act which would enable her to gain custody of Abby. As the break-in occurs, the restaurant's animatronic mascots — Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, and Mr. Cupcake — become alive and kill the gang. Among the vandals is Abby's babysitter Max, whose death results in Mike having to bring Abby to his next shift.
On the third night, the animatronics befriend Abby, but are hostile towards Mike. He discovers that the animatronics are possessed by the ghosts of the murdered children, whose leader, a blonde boy, consistently mentions a "yellow rabbit". On the fourth night, Abby is injured while she, Mike, and Vanessa are bonding with the animatronics. During her recovery, Vanessa learns Mike is attempting to identify Garrett's kidnapper, and warns him to not bring Abby to the restaurant again threatening him with a gun. Mike gets Jane to babysit Abby, much to her anger, as he goes back to the restaurant during the day and overdoses on sleeping pills.
Inside the dream, the five children appear again and tell Mike that he can stay with Garrett forever, in exchange for Abby. After denying their offer, Mike is repeatedly attacked in his dream and wakes up strapped to the animatronics' torture device. He escapes by removing pins that the previous deceased security guard had loosened, but is severely wounded by Foxy. A damaged yellow Freddy animatronic, possessed by the blonde boy appears in Mike's house, kills Jane and takes Abby back to the restaurant by hitching a ride with a taxi driver.
Vanessa finds Mike and treats his injuries; after Mike explains his dream, Vanessa reveals that she is the daughter of William Afton, a serial killer who murdered Garrett and the five children by hiding their bodies in the animatronics, and that their souls are under his control. Realizing that William is planning to murder Abby, Mike rushes to the restaurant with the necessary equipment to disable the animatronics. At the restaurant, Chica attempts to kill Abby, but Mike arrives and saves her. Mike is attacked by Mr. Cupcake and separated from Abby. The animatronics are eventually defeated, but they are reactivated by Steve Raglan, who arrives wearing the "yellow rabbit" suit as he reveals himself to be William before knocking Mike unconscious.
Knowing that the animatronics need to understand the truth, Abby draws a picture of William murdering the children. Vanessa attempts to stop William from interceding with the plan, but is stabbed in the abdomen. Before William can kill Mike, Abby shows her drawing to the animatronics, and they turn on William. Mr. Cupcake bites off part of the suit, triggering its internal springlock mechanisms and fatally wounding William. The animatronics drag him into a back room as Mike and Abby carry a wounded Vanessa out of the restaurant; she falls into a coma afterwards and is taken to a hospital. Mike continues to look after Abby as they return to their normal lives. Meanwhile back in the restaurant, William is still clutching in pain in the back room while one of the ghost of the children closes the door. In the mid-credits scene, the taxi driver that picked up Abby and Golden Freddy earlier is on a break taking a nap when he hears the passenger door open. Initially thinking it's another customer, the driver is shocked to find a Balloon Boy figurine in the passenger seat. During the end credits, a distorted robotic voice spells out "Come find me."
Warner Bros. Pictures announced in April 2015 that it had acquired the series' film rights, with Roy Lee, David Katzenberg, and Seth Grahame-Smith scheduled to produce. Grahame-Smith said that they would collaborate with Cawthon "to make an insane, terrifying and weirdly adorable movie".[8] In July 2015, Gil Kenan signed to direct the adaptation and co-write it with Tyler Burton Smith.[9]
In January 2017, Cawthon said that due to "problems within the movie industry as a whole", the film "was met with several delays and roadblocks" and was "back at square one." He promised "to be involved with the movie from day one this time."[10][11] Cawthon tweeted a picture of a chair with the name "Freddy" with the Blumhouse Productions logo in March of that year, implying that the film has a new production company.[12][13] Producer Jason Blum confirmed the news two months later, saying that he was excited about working closely with Cawthon on the adaptation.[14] In June 2017, Kenan said that he was no longer directing the film after Warner Bros. Pictures' turnaround.[15] It was announced in February 2018 that Chris Columbus would direct and write the film, also producing it with Blum and Cawthon.[16]
In August 2018, Cawthon announced that the script's first draft (involving the events of the first game) was completed and a second and third film were possible.[17] That month, Blum tweeted that the film was planned for a 2020 release.[18] In November 2018, Cawthon announced that the film's script had been scrapped and the film would be further delayed.[19] On September 2019, the script for the movie has been confirmed to be finished. In June 2020, Blum said in an interview that the film is in super active development, and that it's moving rapidly forward, but that he doesn't want to put a timeline on it.[20] In November 2020, Cawthon stated in a Reddit post that the screenplay had been chosen and that filming will start in Spring 2021, around March. Included was a list of scrapped screenplays with a small description of each and why they were ultimately eliminated.[21]
However, on September 29th, 2021, it was revealed in an article that the "Mike" script was scrapped, and that filming did not begin during spring of 2021 as Cawthon and Blum wanted. Therefore, it was unknown when the film would be released. However, Blum tweeted that the movie was still in production and stated that he doesn't want to write a story that's going to disappoint Cawthon.
In March 2022, Blum stated that news on the film is "dangerously close" and that it could release in 2023.[22]
In August 2022, Blum tweeted an image from the special effects company Jim Henson's Creature Shop, who made the animatronic suit designs for the film.[23]
In October 2022, Blum confirmed that the FNaF Movie would start production in February 2023, with director Emma Tammi, and Jim Henson's Creature Shop building the animatronics. Three character descriptions for Mike Schmidt, Abby Schmidt, and Vanessa Shelly were also revealed by Geek Vibes Nation, but unconfirmed as reliable information until later on.
In December 2022, Deadline revealed that Matthew Lillard and Josh Hutcherson were cast in unknown roles.[24] The following day, Dawko revealed on his St. Jude charity stream that they'd been cast as William Afton and Mike Schmidt respectively. During the same stream, Piper Rubio was revealed to be cast as Mike's younger sister, Abby Schmidt, and Mary Stuart Masterson was revealed to have been cast as a unknown villain, now revealed to be Mike's Aunt Jane.
In January 2023, Geek Vibes Nation revealed actress Elizabeth Lail to have been cast as Vanessa. In the following months, many cast members were revealed through various official announcements, leaks, and other sources.
On February 1, 2023, the movie officially started filming in New Orleans, Louisiana, and wrapped on April 3, 2023.
On April 5, 2023, Blum tweeted that the movie would be released on October 27, 2023.[25]
On April 28, 2023, YouTuber Cris Parker brought attention to an official leaked two-paragraph synopsis of the film.[26]
On May 6, 2023, an unfinished trailer for the film was leaked by an early testing surveyor. Leaks of the trailer were taken down by Universal and Blumhouse, and Cawthon released a statement regarding the leak, praising fans who chose to not view and re-post the leaked footage.
On May 16, 2023, Blum (along with Blumhouse Productions) tweeted out the first official poster for the movie and re-affirmed the intended release date. The poster also revealed the movie's tagline: "CAN YOU SURVIVE".[27] Individual posters for Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy were later tweeted out by the official Blumhouse Productions account.[28][29][30][31] On the same day, the first teaser trailer for the film was released on Blum's Twitter page and later on the official Blumhouse YouTube channel.
On June 27, 2023, the official trailer for the movie was released by Blumhouse.
On August 30, 2023, the second official trailer for the movie was released by Blumhouse.
On October 26, 2023, the movie was released on Peacock and there were preview showings of the movie in theaters.
On October 27, 2023, the movie was released in theaters.
On November 28, 2023, the movie released digitally.
On December 23, 2023, the movie ended its theatrical run.
On February 23, 2024, the film was added to Peacock's "Leaving Soon" category on their app.
On February 25, 2024, the film was removed from Peacock.[32]
On March 6, 2024, the film started streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
On October 30, 2024, the film was rereleased exclusively at AMC Theaters for BlumFest 2024.[33]
Critical reception for the film was polarized, with critics rating the film poorly but viewers rating the film highly. Rotten Tomatoes has a recommendation percentage of 32% based off of 214 critic reviews, but has a recommendation percentage of 87% based off of 2,500+ audience reviews. On Metacritic, the film received a score of 33 out of 100 based on 38 critic reviews, considered "generally unfavorable", but has a 7.9 out of 10 based on 1,650+ user reviews, considered "Generally Favorable". However on CinemaScore, a viewer aggregate review website, the film received positive reviews, obtaining an A- on an A+ to F scale. PostTrak, an audience exit polling website, gave it overall a 77% positive score. On IMDb the film received a 5.5 based on 96,000 reviews, and on TMDB the film received a 76% based on over 3,600+ reviews. On Amazon Prime Video, the film received a 4.4/5 stars based on 3,200+ user reviews.
Production
Other
- On December 12, 2023, the Instagram account was brought back online.
References
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