Horror’s Biggest Box Office Surprise of 2023 Now Tops the Prime Video Charts
Video game adaptations have a rather shaky history, to put it lightly. Taking a 40+ hour interactive experience and distilling it into a two-hour film is no easy task, especially when a game has complex lore that exists across mediums. That’s why Emma Tammi’s take on the hit video game franchise Five Nights At Freddy’s is so impressive. While it was divisive amongst critics, it dominated at the box office, earning $297.2 million globally. Now, it’s dominating the Prime Video charts as the top horror movie on the streamer.
In Five Nights At Freddy’s, Josh Hutcherson plays Mike Schmidt, a guy who’s down on his luck and trying to take care of his sister. Desperate for a paycheck, Mike takes a job as the overnight security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, a long-abandoned pizza joint with a troubled past. As Mike starts his shift, he begins to realize that the animatronics behind the dusty curtains may just have a life of their own.
The script for Five Nights At Freddy’s was a collaboration between Tammi, Seth Cuddeback, and series creator Scott Cawthon as they created a story for both rabid fans and newbies alike. The original video game series started in 2014 with Five Nights At Freddy’s, a point-and-click horror game. It boasted rather simple mechanics of checking cameras and shutting doors to avoid falling victim to the possessed animatronics stalking Freddy Fazbear’s halls. The game gained popularity for how its prolific use of jumpscares, which made it a hit for live streamers and Let’s Play creators on YouTube.
From there, Cawthon crafted a complicated lore that spans ten games and several spin-offs. He’s introduced new characters, reasons why the animatronics act the way they do, and more. So of course there’s plenty to mine for the upcoming sequel, which is set to hit theaters in December 2025.
But it took almost a decade for these films to happen. Development on the first film started in April 2015, less than a year after the first game was released, with Warner Bros. Pictures. Gil Kenan was set to direct and co-write, with Roy Lee, David Katzenberg, and Seth Grahame-Smith set to produce. However, Kenan resigned from the project and the film went to Blumhouse. Chris Columbus was then set to write and direct, but also left the project. Finally, in 2022, Emma Tammi came on to direct and co-write. The rest, they say, is history.
In his review of the film, Dread Central’s Josh Korngut wrote, “Five Nights at Freddy’s is a bizarre little horror movie that attempts to do much with relatively few resources. But its utter and complete commitment to the cerebral bit allows for a cute, fun, and unpretentious journey into gateway horror for the Roblox generation.”
Many fans agree and have taken to Twitter to share their thoughts about the film, as well as some of their favorite Easter Eggs from the franchise that found their way into the movie.
Check some out below:
What did you think of Five Nights At Freddy’s? Let us know on Twitter and Instagram @DreadCentral!
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