- The Five Nights at Freddy's movie is a box office success, grossing over $113 million domestically and $217 million globally on a budget of $25.1 million.
- The idea for the game came from player feedback on Scott Cawthon's previous game, Chipper & Sons Lumber Co., which inspired him to create a more terrifying and sinister concept.
- The movie adaptation faced numerous challenges and delays, including script changes and disagreements with the studio, but ultimately the long journey helped shape the final product and satisfy fans.
The Five Night at Freddy's movie has proven to be a monumental success for Blumhouse, grossing $113 million domestically and $217 million globally on a budget of approximately $25.1 million. To the uninitiated, it might come as a surprise that the story of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza — a fictional restaurant with a dark and sinister history involving killer animatronics — has had its big-screen adaptation in the works for years, as it seemed to appear as an instant success overnight.
To understand the movie's almost decade-long journey from the initial announcement of production, it is essential to look at the franchise's beginnings and how the growth and evolving nature may have affected the timeline. Combine this with the ever-growing lore behind the series, and the jump into movies is an impressive feat worth diving deeper into.
From video games and novels to a hit movie, this is the story behind Five Nights at Freddy's' rise to the big screen and subsequent success at the box office.
Where the Idea of Five Nights at Freddy's Came From
Five Nights at Freddys
Release Date 2023-10-27
Director Emma Tammi
Cast Kat Conner Sterling, matthew lillard, Josh Hutcherson, Mary Stuart Masterson, Elizabeth Lail
Genres Horror
The original concept for Five Nights at Freddy's came from player reception of Scott Cawthon's previous game, Chipper & Sons Lumber Co. The game, which focused on constructing and managing a lumberyard, was released on iOS and Android in 2013 with an eventual PC port, where it was met with decent reception. However, the game was praised for its sinister subtleties when approaching the story, including hints of dark secrets harbored by the furry creatures that run the business, including the implication of murder and robot doubles.
However, the player feedback about the game was noted by a few people that the main character, Chipper, had the appearance of "a scary animatronic animal," which inspired Cawthon to lean more heavily into the subtle horror elements present in his game and craft something seriously terrifying. Over a period of six months, Cawthon worked on the title, which ended up becoming the first Five Nights at Freddy's game, released on August 8, 2014.
Related: How the Five Nights at Freddy's Movie Expands the Lore
The game launched to a pretty obsessive fanbase, primarily due to the following incurred by the "Let's Play" community on YouTube playing the game on live streams and releasing compilation clips of scary moments accompanied by screams. This would push sales of the games, and the first six Five Nights at Freddy's games have sold over 4.74 million units on Steam, with the series having made over $33.5 million on the platform. Moreover, the subsequent merchandise proved a continued financial success, with the licensed book series alone selling over 9 million.
Five Nights at Freddy's Makes its Way to the Big Screen
There was a huge demand for a film adaptation of the video games, and other studios capitalized on this. They rushed out animatronic-themed horror, including Willy's Wonderland and The Banana Splits Movie, before the Five Nights at Freddy's movie could be released, which was delayed by a variety of events. Primarily because creator Scott Cawthon wanted to ensure that the movie's story fitted with his vision. Multiple script changes and disagreements with the studio led to the film being pushed back numerous times, with the original announcement of production dating back all the way to 2015.
I'm sticking to what I've always said, either the right movie gets made or no movie gets made. (Scott Cawthon via Variety)
The extent of changes can't be understated in establishing the timeline for Five Nights at Freddy's, as Scott Cawthon infamously scrapped his script at one point to start fresh. His decision at the time was driven by his desire to ensure that the movie and any potential sequels take place in the universe of the first three games and that any subsequent projects would follow the story of the second and third games — a potential byproduct of adapting lore from the films' first conception to the final release.
Moreover, the series saw casting, director, and studio changes during the pre-production period, leaving the movie in constant limbo until filming began on February 1, 2023, wrapping on April 3, 2023. Whether or not all these delays helped or hindered the project is up for audience interpretation, but the journey to get the film in theaters shaped the release in many ways.
The Lore Behind Five Nights at Freddy's
With the popularity, varying media, and stories open for interpretation, it is no surprise that fan theories would start to flow and cause heated debate. While the lore behind the series is an entirely separate article, plenty remains for speculation. Still, some factors also lead to exploring the deeper parts of Five Nights at Freddy's, and Scott Cawthon has only spoken briefly about the lore and fan theories through Tumblr, Reddit, and interviews. This is complicated by other facts, notably Cawthon's Christian beliefs, which many believe also feed into story elements surrounding the franchise.
Related: The 15 Best Horror Movies to Introduce the Genre to Kids
This is important when approaching the lead-up to the film, as while Scott Cawthon was heavily involved in the project from writing, casting, and production, one of the complaints about the movie was its approach toward the lore, as some felt it was rushed in pacing. In contrast, some loved the additional detail, while others found it a deterrent.
The significant complaints came from changing the timeline, with one notable alteration coming from the introduction of Vanessa as Afton's daughter (played by Elizabeth Lail), who did not appear in the games until later in the timeline. On the other hand, many praised the new direction of Josh Hutcherson's character, Mike, as he was given a richer background story that worked better in the movie format than it did in the video games.
Five Nights At Freddy's' long journey from the small to the big screen has enabled the most amount of thought to go into the final product. Although you can't please everyone, this means that fans have been rewarded for their patronage with a hugely entertaining, Easter-egg-filled movie, which is a large part of the original games' draw. Stream Five Nights at Freddy's on Peacock.
