Five Nights at Freddy's (Film)

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“Can you survive?”
— Five Nights at Freddy's, Tagline

Five Nights at Freddy's is a supernatural horror feature film directed by Emma Tammi and is the first installment in the Five Nights at Freddy's film series, which is based on Scott Cawthon's video game series of the same name. Filming began on February 1, 2023, and wrapped on April 3, 2023, with 6 months of post-production work. The film was produced by Scott Cawthon Productions and Blumhouse Productions, distributed by Universal Pictures, and the animatronic cast was built by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

It was released on October 26, 2023, on Peacock, and a day later, on October 27, in theaters. In February 2024, the film left Peacock and was streaming exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. 10 months later, in December 2024, the film returned exclusively to Peacock. The film is set to exclusively be on STARZ in April 2025, after the Pay-One window ends, for 18 months.

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 novelization of the films script was adapted by Andrea Waggener and published by Scholastic Corp. on December 26, 2023. A sequel is currently in post-production and is set to release on December 5, 2025.^[5]

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.^[6]

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 Michael Schmidt, who wakes up at 6:00 a.m. 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 titled "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 it's 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 the Rabbit, Chica the Chicken, Foxy the Pirate, 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, presumably 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."

In April 2015, Warner Bros. Pictures announced that they acquired the film rights, with Roy Lee, David Katzenberg, and Seth Grahame-Smith scheduled to produce. Grahame-Smith said they'd collaborate with Scott Cawthon "to make an insane, terrifying, and weirdly adorable movie."^[7] A few months later, Gil Kenan signed to direct the adaptation and co-write alongside Tyler Burton Smith.^[8] Under 2 years later, in January 2017, Cawthon went to Steam and mentioned 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 then promised "to be involved with the movie from day one this time."^[9] In March that same year, Cawthon would post an image of a chair with the name "Freddy" and the announcement of Blumhouse Productions taking over the production of the film.^[10] Jason Blum, 2 months later, would confirm this announcement, saying he's excited to work closely with Cawthon.^[11] Later in June, Kenan revealed that he was no longer directing after the Warner Bros. Pictures turnaround.^[12]^[13]

In February 2018, Chris Columbus was announced to direct and write the film, along with producing it with Cawthon and Blum.^[14] Later that year, in August, Cawthon announced that the script's first draft was completed and a second and third film were possible. That same month, Blum mentioned that the film was planned for a 2020 release.^[15] Following those posts, Cawthon announced that the film's script had been scrapped and the film would be delayed further.^[16] In September 2019, the script was confirmed to be finished. In June 2020, Blum said, in an interview, that the film was in "super active development" and that it's moving rapidly forward, but he doesn't want to put a timeline on it.^[17] In November, Cawthon made a Reddit post revealing that a screenplay had been chosen and that filming would start in Spring 2021, around March. Included in that post were various scrapped screenplays with descriptions of each and why they ultimately went unused.^[18] In September 2021, the "Mike" script was scrapped, and filming did not begin in spring 2021, like they'd planned. Blum would post saying the film was still in development and that he doesn't want to write a story that'll disappoint Cawthon.^[19]

Following a long silence, Blum, in March 2022, made a post saying the film is "dangerously close" and that it could release in 2023.^[20] Later that year, in August, Blum would post an image of a Jim Henson's Creature Shop employee working on a miniature build of Freddy Fazbear's suit.^[21] In October of the same year, Blum would announce that the film would start its production phase in February 2023, with Emma Tammi directing and Jim Henson's Creature Shop building the animatronics.^[22] In December, Matthew Lillard and Josh Hutcherson were revealed to be cast in unknown roles,^[23] later being revealed by YouTuber Dawko, in a St. Jude's charity stream, to be William Afton and Michael Schmidt, respectively. Piper Rubio and Mary Stuart Masterson were also revealed during that stream to be Mike's younger sister, Abby Schmidt, and an unknown villain, later revealed to be Mike's aunt Jane Schmidt.^[24] In January 2023, Geek Vibes Nation revealed Elizabeth Lail to have been cast as Vanessa Shelly.^[25] This was followed by many other cast members being revealed via official, leaked, and other sources.

On February 1, 2023, the film entered its production phase in New Orleans, Louisiana. Late that day, Blum would post a behind-the-scenes picture, later found out to be of a Sparky's Diner scene.^[26] In April, the film wrapped filming on April 3, 2023, and entered its post-production phase. Soon after, on April 5, the film's release date was revealed to be October 27, 2023.^[27] Later that month, a two-paragraph synopsis was leaked.^[28] The following month, the teaser was leaked by an early testing surveyor. Leaks were taken down by Universal and Blumhouse, and Cawthon would release a statement later that day. Praising fans who chose to not watch or repost the leak.^[29] On May 16, the first official posters were posted by Blumhouse and Universal, along with the tagline "Can you surive."^[30] Later that day, the first teaser was officially released.^[31] In June, the first trailer was released;^[32] two months later, in August, the second trailer would be released.^[33] The film would officially release on Peacock late on October 26,^[34] with the film entering theaters on October 27, 2023. A few days later, the official soundtrack would release digitally.^[35] In November, the film was released digitally.^[36] The theatrical run ended on December 21, 2023.^[37] The film would soon after enter Peacock's "Leaving Soon" category and would leave on February 23, 2024.^[38] On March 6, 2024, the film began exclusively streaming on Amazon Prime Video.^[39] The film would be rereleased in AMC Theaters for BlumFest 2024.^[40] Ten months after entering Prime Video, it would leave the service and head back to Peacock.^[41]

Reviews
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	33/100^[42]
Rotten Tomatoes	32%^[43]

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 86% 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 7.8 out of 10 based on 1,800+ 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 5.4 based on 109,000+ reviews, and on TMDB the film received a 75% based on over 4,200+ reviews. On Amazon Prime Video, the film received a 4.3/5 stars based on 3,600+ user reviews.

Production

Other

On September 24, 2023, the FNaF X/Twitter hashflag icons were removed from their respective hashtags.

On September 27, 2023, the icons returned.
On December 29, 2023, the icons were once again removed, this time for good.

A Snapchat filter by Universal Pictures can be found on Freddy Fazbear's Fanzone website. The filter holds 3D scans of Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, Mr. Cupcake, and Foxy's animatronic suits.

Insomnia Cookie released a FNaF-themed cookie on October 16, 2023, called "Freddy Fazbear's Cookie Pizza."

For unknown reasons, the '80s Newscaster and the Janitor never made the cut in the film.

A few days after the release, NBCUniversal revealed that Five Nights at Freddy's became the #1 most watched film and series title on Peacock in only the first five days of release. The film surpassed Halloween Ends, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Bel-Air, and The Best Man: The Final Chapter.^[56]

According to Screendollars, Five Nights at Freddy's released worldwide in 3,789 locations.^[57]

Five Nights at Freddy's is placed 7th worldwide in IMDb's Top Movies of 2023 based on IMDb page views.^[58]

On December 10, 2023, the FNaF film Instagram account was randomly removed from the site.^[59]

On December 12, 2023, the Instagram account was brought back online.

Iam8bit made physical CD, Cassette, and Vinyl versions of the films soundtrack.

According to What's on Netflix, Five Nights at Freddy's will be on Netflix around sometime in 2027 in the U.S.^[60]

Five Nights at Freddy's was #1 in the U.S. a little under 24 hours after it being available on Amazon Prime Video.^[61]

Scott is happy with the release of Five Nights at Freddy's and is grateful that things fell into place.^[62]

On the release of the film, Scott wanted to be blind to everything for the first week and just experience what others are experiencing in theaters. But he accidentally read a negative review when checking his email when waiting on his second showing, and that opened the floodgates to him reading more, which made him think he wasted everyone's time that the film was a huge failure, and he started thinking of how he was going to write a letter to Blumhouse and the fans to say sorry. But somehow, Jason Blum found out about what had happened with Scott, to which he started bombarding Scott with all-caps texts saying that the fans love the film, that it's a big hit, and everything is great.^[63]

During Blumhouse's 2024 BlumFest, Five Nights at Freddy's was rereleased on October 30, 2024, in theaters exclusively at AMC Theaters.^[64]

On October 1, 2024, Universal Pictures uploaded a video focusing on the springlock scene titled "The Springtrap Transformation." Interestingly, they have altered the title name twice since then, changing it to "Afton's Entombment" and "Afton's Entrapment." The description for the video also changed, removing any reference to the names "Spring Bonnie" and "Springtrap." The reason for why this was done is unknown and most likely means nothing.^[65]

As of October 2024, the first and second trailers for the film are the most viewed videos on Blumhouse's YouTube channel. The first trailer is within the top 20 most viewed on Universal Pictures' YouTube channel.

References

Five Nights at Freddy's Film Media

Media Content	(Novelization • The Art and Making) Soundtrack • Scrapped Screenplays • Deleted Scenes
Category Navigation	Characters • Bots • Locations • Objects