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Five Nights at Freddy's (film)

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Five Nights at Freddy's is a 2023 American supernatural horror film based on the video game franchise of the same name created by Scott Cawthon. Directed by Emma Tammi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Cawthon and Seth Cuddeback, from a story by Cawthon, Chris Lee Hill, and Tyler MacIntyre, the film stars Josh Hutcherson as a troubled security guard who accepts a night-time job at an abandoned family entertainment center, where he discovers its four animatronic mascots move and kill anyone that is still there after midnight. Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Matthew Lillard appear in supporting roles.

Jason Blum served as a producer on the film through his Blumhouse Productions banner, in association with Cawthon's Scott Cawthon Productions banner. Development of a Five Nights at Freddy's film adaptation began in April 2015, with the involvement of Warner Bros. Pictures. Roy Lee, David Katzenberg, and Seth Grahame-Smith were set to produce it, with Gil Kenan announced as director and co-writer. After several delays in production, the Warner Bros. version was no longer moving forward and Kenan dropped out of the project. In March 2017, Blumhouse Productions was announced as the new production company, with Chris Columbus set to direct and co-write. Columbus also ultimately left the project, and Emma Tammi was announced as his replacement in October 2022. The main cast were confirmed in December, while other cast additions were signed in March 2023. Principal photography began in February 2023 in New Orleans and ended in April.

Five Nights at Freddy's was released on Peacock on October 26, 2023 and theatrically released on October 27, 2023, by Universal Pictures.[3] The film received generally negative reviews from critics, who criticized its slow pace, underutilization of the animatronics, lack of scares, and the PG-13 rating.[4]

Plot[]

Mike Schmidt, a mall cop, loses his job after assaulting a negligent father who he confused for being a kidnapper. He is sent to visit career counselor Steve Raglan, who offers him work as a night guard at an abandoned family diner known as Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Though initially reluctant, Mike accepts the offer after social services threaten to take custody of his younger sister Abby, and pass her over to his estranged aunt Jane, due to concerns of Mike's emotional stress.

On the first night, Mike falls asleep and has a dream where he witnesses the kidnapping and presumed murder of his brother Garrett, whom was taken away by an unknown man. Mike is then met by five unknown children whom allegedly witnessed the kidnapping, and promptly run away. On the second night, Mike meets police officer Vanessa Shelly, who shows him around the restaurant and tells him that the place closed in the 1980s after five children were murdered there; the bodies were never found. Mike's dream is repeated, though after Mike attempts to confront one of the children, he is attacked and wakes up to find himself wounded physically, though his wounds are treated by Vanessa.

On the third night, Jane hires a group of delinquents 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, Chica, Foxy and Bonnie - come alive and murder the delinquents. One of the vandals happens to be Abby's babysitter Max, which requires Mike to bring Abby to his next shift. The animatronics become active once more, being hostile towards Mike though being friendly towards Abby. The animatronics befriend her, though Vanessa and Mike are hesitant, with the latter discovering that the animatronics are possessed by the ghosts of dead children, whom are led by a boy with blonde hair and allegedly talk about a "yellow rabbit" consistently.

In between shifts, Mike explains the disappearance of Garrett when he was young, which became a cold case and that he had been taking sleeping pills every night in order to repeat his dreams and find who kidnapped his brother. After panicking from Abby's increasing relationship with the animatronics on the fourth night, Vanessa warns Mike to not bring her to the restaurant again. Mike gets Jane to babysit Abby, much to her frustration, as he goes back to the restaurant during the day and overdoses on his sleeping pills.

Inside the dream, the five children appear again and tell Mike that he can stay with Garrett forever, in exchange for Abby. At Mike's house, Jane is murdered by "Golden Freddy", a variant of Freddy Fazbear possessed by the blonde boy, who takes Abby back to the restaurant. Mike is attacked several times inside of his dream and wakes up strapped to a torture device that attempts to tear off his face. He escapes the machine and flees the restaurant, but is critically injured until Vanessa arrives to help him.

After Mike details his dream, Vanessa reveals that she is the daughter of the serial killer that murdered his brother and the other five children, William Afton, and that the animatronics and souls of the children are under his control. She also tells him that they will likely attempt to murder Abby, much to Mike's dismay. He drives to the restaurant with the necessary equipment to disable the animatronics and save Abby, who is taken into a backroom by Chica. Chica tries to kill Abby by stuffing her inside of an animatronic suit with springlocks, though Mike disables most of the animatronics and saves Abby. However, he is attacked by Chica's cupcake and is separated from Abby, who is attacked by Foxy but is saved by Vanessa. Both animatronics are defeated, but they are reactivated by Raglan, who arrives wearing the Spring Bonnie suit. Raglan reveals himself to be William Afton and Garrett's murderer before knocking Mike unconscious.

Knowing that they need to understand the truth, Abby draws a picture of William murdering the children, while Vanessa distracts and shoots him but is afterwards stabbed. Abby shows her drawing to the animatronics, and they turn on William. The Cupcake bites off part of William's suit, which triggers the internal springlock mechanisms which crush him. The mascots drag him into the back room and lock him away. Mike and Abby carry a wounded Vanessa out of the restaurant, though she falls into a coma afterwards and is taken to a hospital. Mike continues to look after Abby and they return to their normal lives.

In a mid-credits scene, Golden Freddy watches as the dying William bleeds out in the corner, closing the door on him soon after. In a post-credits scene, Balloon Boy is shown appearing inside a taxi driver’s car.

Cast[]


  • Josh Hutcherson as Mike Schmidt, a new security guard at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza.
  • Piper Rubio as Abby, Mike's younger sister
  • Elizabeth Lail as Vanessa, a local police officer
  • Matthew Lillard as Steve Raglan / William Afton, Mike's career counselor
  • Mary Stuart Masterson as Aunt Jane, Mike and Abby's aunt
  • Kat Conner Sterling as Max, Abby's babysitter
  • David Lind as Jeff
  • Christian Stokes as Hank
  • Joseph Poliquin as Carl
  • Lucas Grant as Garrett, Mike's younger brother who was abducted as a child
  • Theodus Crane as Jeremiah, Mike's co-worker at his previous job at a mall

Additionally, gaming YouTuber CoryxKenshin appears as a cabbie,[5] and YouTuber MatPat appears as Ness, a Sparky's Diner waiter.

Voices and performers[]

  • Kevin Foster as Freddy Fazbear[6]
  • Jade Kindar-Martin as Bonnie[6]
  • Jessica Weiss as Chica[6]
  • Roger Joseph Manning Jr. as Foxy (uncredited)[6]

Production[]

Development[]

In April 2015, Warner Bros. Pictures announced it had acquired the film rights to the Five Nights at Freddy's video game franchise with Roy Lee, David Katzenberg, and Seth Grahame-Smith set to produce the adaptation. Grahame-Smith stated that they would collaborate with franchise creator Scott Cawthon "to make an insane, terrifying and weirdly adorable movie".[7] In July 2015, Gil Kenan signed to direct the film from a screenplay co-written with Tyler Burton Smith.[8]

In March 2017, Cawthon tweeted announcing Blumhouse Productions as the film's new production company after Warner Bros. Pictures put the project in turnaround.[9] In May 2017, producer Jason Blum said he was excited and working closely with Cawthon on the film.[10] In June 2017, Kenan said he was no longer directing the film.[11]

In February 2018, Chris Columbus was announced as Kenan's replacement as director and writer, besides producing the film alongside Blum and Cawthon.[12] In August 2018, Cawthon revealed that the first draft of the film's script, which he wrote with co-author of the Five Nights at Freddy's novel trilogy, Kira Breed-Wrisley, was completed, and it would involve the events of the series' first game.[13] That same month, Blum wrote on Twitter that the film was aiming for a 2020 release.[14] In November, Cawthon announced that he scrapped the script, despite being liked by Columbus and Blum, as he "had a different idea for [the story], one that I liked better". It contributed to a further delay to the film, for which Cawthon took full responsibility.[15] In June 2020, during an interview with Fandom, Blum, when asked about the progress of the film, stated:

"It's super active, so I really feel like we have a very good shot at seeing a Five Nights at Freddy's movie...I feel like it's really moving forward; it's not stalled or anything else. It's moving forward rapidly. I don't want to put a timeline on it, but soon we'll get a movie. I feel really confident about that."[16]

In September 2021, Blum revealed that Columbus was no longer involved with the project, but it was still in active development.[17] In August 2022, Blum announced that Jim Henson's Creature Shop would be working on the animatronic characters for the film.[18] In October, Emma Tammi was announced as Columbus' replacement as director, in addition to co-writing the screenplay alongside Cawthon and Seth Cuddeback.[19]

Casting[]

In December 2022, Josh Hutcherson and Matthew Lillard joined the cast in undisclosed roles.[20] Five Nights at Freddy's-related YouTuber Dawko later revealed during a livestream that Hutcherson would portray the first game's security guard Mike Schmidt and Lillard would portray the franchise's main villain William Afton. He also revealed that Mary Stuart Masterson and Piper Rubio joined the cast as Mike's aunt Jane, and Mike's younger sister Abby, respectively.[21] In March 2023, it was reported that Kat Conner Sterling and Elizabeth Lail were cast in the film.[22][23] Lucas Grant and Jessica Blackmore have undisclosed roles.[24]

Mark Fischbach was contacted to have a role in the film, but turned it down due to a conflicting schedule with his own film Iron Lung.[25]

Filming[]

Principal photography was initially set to begin in March 2021.[26] However, due to script issues, filming was delayed.[17] Filming began in New Orleans on February 1, 2023, under the working title Bad Cupcake, with an estimated production budget, before tax incentives, of $25 million,[27] and wrapped on April 3.[28][29] Lillard began filming his scenes in mid-February.[30]

Music[]

The Newton Brothers composed the film's score,[31] while the fan-made song "Five Nights at Freddy's" by The Living Tombstone was used for the credits.[32]

Release[]

Five Nights at Freddy's was released simultaneously in theaters and on Peacock in the United States by Universal Pictures on October 27, 2023, alongside After Death, Freelance, and Sight.[33][34] It was released two days earlier on October 25, 2023 in the United Kingdom.[35]

Marketing[]

In October 2023, a pop-up location in Los Angeles, California was built at Sunset Boulevard. The location is described as being decorated similarly to the Freddy Fazbear's Pizza location as seen in the film.[36] A making-of book titled The Art and Making of Five Nights at Freddy's: The Movie is expected to release on August 20, 2024.[37] A film novelization of the movie will also release on December 26, 2023.[38]

Reception[]

Box office[]

In the United States and Canada, the film is projected to gross around $50 million from 3,550 theaters in its opening weekend.[2]

Critical response[]

Based on 26 professional critic reviews, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 4.5% of those reviews were positive, with an average rating of 85/10. Using a weighted average calculator, Metacritic assigned the film a score of 29 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.

Murtada Elfadl of Variety felt the animatronic characters were underutilized, with the film instead focusing on "a baffling plot and backstory for their protagonist". He also criticized a perceived lack of effective jump scares and concluded, "In trying to adapt the game for the screen, they forgot what makes the original special, wringing unintentional laughter from its bizarre story instead of entertaining audiences".[39] Dylan Roth of The New York Observer gave the film a score of one out of five and wrote, "There are jump scares, but no real thrills. There are jokes, but no genuine laughs".[40]

The Guardian's Benjamin Lee gave a two out of five rating, arguing "The low-stakes, late-night thrill we expect from the material never arrives, held back by a mixture of indecisive restraint and misplaced self-importance. Five Nights at Freddy's is somehow a slog to get through and will be promptly forgotten by morning".[41] The New York Times's Natalia Winkelmann expressed similar criticisms: "...[Although] Five Nights at Freddy's, based on a popular video game franchise, reaches for horror-comedy flair, this dreary, mild adaptation never achieves the hybrid pleasures of a movie like M3GAN. You may chuckle, but it’s hard to tell if the movie is laughing with you".[42] RogerEbert.com's Simon Abrams, giving a two out of four rating, was also negative: "“Five Nights at Freddy’s” has most of the right elements for a good post-Amblin kiddy fright-fest, except maybe good dialogue and distinct characters. Watching the movie, one gets the sense that the games’ morbid personality has been sanded down to its most generic jump-scares and banal revelations."[43]

Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting gave a score of three out of five and wrote, "It's the type of handsomely made, charming creature feature that'll play well at slumber parties or rowdy theaters full of obsessed fans, which is precisely its target audience. Five Nights at Freddy's won't scare the pants off of seasoned horror fans; the animatronic denizens of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria will likely make you want to hug them instead".[44] Total Film's Neil Smith scored the film a two out of five and ended his review, "With robot heads containing flesh-mangling chainsaws, faces resembling that of battle-scarred Terminators, and the lumbering gait of Romero zombies, Freddy Fazbear and his pals would seem precision-tooled for terror. Sadly, though, they are about as scary as Barney the purple dinosaur in what is ultimately a ploddingly predictable, gore-lite yawner".[35]

Mark Kennedy of the Associated Press stated: "Caught between PG and R, as well as lost at the crossroads of inadvertent comedy and horror, the PG-13 Five Nights at Freddy's has to go down as one of the poorest films in any genre this year".[4]

Charlotte Colombo of The Digital Fix scored Five Nights At Freddy's three out of five echoing other critics views on a slow start but with some fun for fans, "With the exception of a frightful opening sequence, there’s a bit of a build-up to us finally getting to meet the animatronics — arguably, it takes a little too long— but once you’re in the thick of the action, there’s plenty of it to enjoy."[45]

Future[]

In August 2018, Cawthon said that if the first film were to be successful, there could be a second and third film, following the events of the second and third games, respectively.[13] In January 2023, in an interview on the podcast WeeklyMTG, Lillard revealed he signed a three-picture deal with the studios.[34]

See also[]

  • List of films based on video games
  • Willy's Wonderland

References[]

  1. ↑ Five Nights at Freddy's (15) (October 4, 2023).
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 D'Alessandro, Anthony (October 24, 2023). ‘Five Nights At Freddy’s’ To Jump-Start Sleepy Autumn Box Office With $50M+ Debut Despite Peacock Day & Date – B.O. Preview.
  3. ↑ Northrup, Ryan (2023-10-24). Five Nights At Freddy’s Streaming Release Date & Time Confirmed Earlier Than Expected (en).
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Kennedy, Mark (2023-10-26). Movie Review: Video game-to-horror flick Five Nights at Freddy's misfires badly.
  5. ↑ Valdez, Jonah (June 27, 2023). 'Five Nights at Freddy's' trailer contains jump scares and a cameo rumored for weeks.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Shrishty (2023-10-16). 'Five Nights at Freddy's' Animatronics Come to Life in New Featurette (en).
  7. ↑ Kit, Borys (April 7, 2015). Video Game 'Five Nights at Freddy's' Getting Movie Treatment (Exclusive).
  8. ↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. (July 28, 2015). Gil Kenan To Direct 'Five Nights At Freddy's' For Warner Bros.
  9. ↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. (March 29, 2017). Fright Franchise 'Five Nights At Freddy's' Blumhouse-Bound?.
  10. ↑ Justimbaste, Kristinova (May 26, 2017). 'Five Nights at Freddy's' Movie Adaptation Will Work, Says Producer Jason Blum.
  11. ↑ Groux, Christopher (June 29, 2017). Five Nights At Freddy's Movie Former Director Confirms He's Not Involved.
  12. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 12, 2018). Chris Columbus To Write & Direct 'Five Nights At Freddy's' For Blumhouse.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Wilson, Mike (August 31, 2018). 'Five Nights at Freddy's' Creator Reveals First Draft of Film Script Complete + More.
  14. ↑ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.IGN (October 5, 2018). Jason Blum: Five Nights at Freddy's Movie Coming "Pretty Soon" (video). Archived from the original on January 13, 2023. Retrieved February 4, 2023 – via IGN.
  15. ↑ Crecente, Brian (November 12, 2018). 'Five Night at Freddy's' Movie Script Scrapped, New Script in Works.
  16. ↑ Damaske, Damion (June 23, 2020). Five Nights at Freddy's movie still on the way!.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Foutch, Haleigh (September 29, 2021). 'Five Nights at Freddy's Movie: Jason Blum Reveals Chris Columbus Is No Longer Directing, but the Film Is Still Happening.
  18. ↑ Squires, John (August 9, 2022). Jason Blum Teases 'Five Nights at Freddy's' Movie and Jim Henson's Creature Shop Involvement [Image].
  19. ↑ Kit, Borys (October 5, 2022). 'Five Nights at Freddy's' Movie Finds Its Director in Emma Tammi.
  20. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (December 16, 2022). Blumhouse's 'Five Nights At Freddy's' Sets Josh Hutcherson & Matthew Lillard.
  21. ↑ Squires, Bethy (December 18, 2022). Vanessa: They're Making a Five Nights at Freddy's Movie.
  22. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (March 21, 2023). Kat Conner Sterling Boards Blumhouse's 'Five Nights At Freddy's'.
  23. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (March 22, 2023). Elizabeth Lail Gets Ready For Blumhouse's 'Five Nights At Freddy's'.
  24. ↑ Franklin, Garth (2023-05-17). Teaser Trailer: "Five Nights at Freddy's" (en-US).
  25. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (2023-10-17). Markiplier Reveals Why He Had to Turn Down Role in Five Nights at Freddy's Movie (en).
  26. ↑ animdude (November 20, 2020). Bad news about the FNAF movie..
  27. ↑ Fastlane NextGen: Initial Certification Search (Type "Five Nights At Freddy's" in the search box).
  28. ↑ Productions.
  29. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (February 2, 2023). Five Nights At Freddy's Movie Finally Starts Filming.
  30. ↑ Dick, Jeremy (2023-02-20). Matthew Lillard Is on Set Filming the Five Nights at Freddy's Movie.
  31. ↑ Emma Tammi's 'Five Nights at Freddy's' to Feature Music by The Newton Brothers (September 1, 2023).
  32. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (2023-10-27). Five Nights At Freddys' Frenzy Fires Up With Around $7M+ In Previews – Box Office.
  33. ↑ Murphy, J. Kim (April 5, 2023). 'Five Nights at Freddy's' to Debut Simultaneously in Theaters and on Peacock in October.
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Scott, Ryan (February 3, 2023). Is Blumhouse Planning a Five Nights at Freddy's Trilogy?!.
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 Smith, Neil (2023-10-25). Five Nights at Freddy's review: "Five nights too many".
  36. ↑ Peralta, Diego (2023-10-11). 'Five Nights at Freddy's Comes to Life With a Pop-Up Location in Los Angeles (en).
  37. ↑ The Art and Making of Five Nights at Freddy's: The Movie by Scott Cawthon (en).
  38. ↑ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Cawthon, Scott; Tammi, Emma; Cuddeback, Seth (December 26, 2023). Five Nights at Freddy's: The Official Movie Novel. Scholastic Inc. ISBN 978-1-339-04759-1.
  39. ↑ Elfadl, Murtada (2023-10-26). Five Nights at Freddys' Review: Creepy Mascots Go Rogue in a Listless and Repetitive Video Game Adaptation.
  40. ↑ Roth, Dylan (2023-10-26). Five Nights At Freddys' Review: Zero Thrills In This Video Game Adaptation.
  41. ↑ Lee, Benjamin (2023-10-26). Five Nights at Freddy's review – horror game movie is an unscary Halloween trick.
  42. ↑ Winkelmann, Natalia (2023-10-26). Five Nights at Freddy's Review: Creepypizza.
  43. ↑ Abrams, Simon (2023-10-27). Five Nights at Freddy's.
  44. ↑ Navarro, Meagan (2023-10-26). Five Nights at Freddys' Review – Cuddly Gateway Horror Goes Light on Scares.
  45. ↑ Five Nights at Freddy’s review (2023) – biting horror (en-US) (2023-10-25).

External links[]

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