Information

Five Nights at Freddy’s is a 2023 American supernatural horror film based on the video game series of the same name created by Scott Cawthon. Directed by Emma Tammy, who wrote the screenplay with Cawthon and Seth Cudback, the film stars Josh Hutcherson in supporting roles along with Elizabeth Lyle, Piper Rubio, Mary Stewart Masterson and Matthew Lillard. Hutcherson plays a troubled security guard working at an abandoned family entertainment center, where he discovers that the animatronic mascots are possessed by homicidal children.

Development on a film adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy’s began in April 2015 with Warner Bros. Pictures in the lead. Roy Lee, David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith were set to produce it, with Gil Kenan announced as director and co-writer. After multiple production delays, Kenan resigned from the project and further development of the film moved from Warner Bros. to Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions. Chris Columbus was hired to direct and co-write, eventually leaving the project and being replaced by Emma Tammy in October 2022. Under a budget of $20 million, filming began in New Orleans and took place from February to April 2023.

Five Nights at Freddy’s was released for streaming on October 26, 2023 on Peacock and was released theatrically in the United States by Universal Pictures the following day. The film received generally negative reviews from critics but was a commercial success, grossing $295 million worldwide.

Details

At Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, an abandoned pizzeria and family entertainment center that was once successful, a night security guard tries to escape the premises but is captured and strapped to a torture device, which kills him.

Moments later, mall security guard Mike Schmidt is fired for attacking a neglected father who he thinks is a kidnapper. Mike’s career counselor, Steve Raglan, offers him a job as a night guard at Freddy’s. Although initially reluctant, Mike agrees after social services threaten to take custody of his younger sister Abby and turn her over to their estranged aunt Jane, who wants monthly custody payments.

On his first night on the job, Mike falls asleep and dreams about his younger brother Garrett’s kidding. He meets five children who witnessed the crime, but run away when he approaches them. The next day, Jane hires a group of thugs, including Abby’s babysitter Max and led by Max’s brother Jeff, to vandalize the restaurant in order to fire Mike and expedite Abby’s custody of Jane. That night on Mike’s shift, he meets police officer Vanessa Shelley, who explains that Freddy stopped after killing five children there in the 1980s. The bodies of the suspects and victims have not been found. When Mike’s shift ends and he leaves, the vandals break in, but the restaurant’s animatronic mascots—Freddy Fuzzbear, Bonnie, Chicka, Foxy, and Mr. Cupcake—come to life and kill the entire gang. Max’s disappearance forces Mike to bring Abby with him on his next shift, where the animatronics befriend Abby and Mike, discovering that the animatronics are possessed by amnesiac ghosts of missing children, whose leader consistently refers to a “yellow rabbit”.

On the fourth night, Abby is accidentally injured when she, Mike, and Vanessa bond with the animatronics. The next morning, Mike gets Jane to babysit a frustrated Abby while he goes back to Freddy’s and takes some sleeping pills. The children reappear in his dreams and tell him that he can be with Garrett forever in exchange for Abby. Mike initially accepts but when he changes his mind, he is attacked by Foxy and wakes up trapped in a torture device. He escaped by removing the pins that his predecessor had loosened. Meanwhile, a damaged yellow Freddy animatronic, [a] possessed by the children’s leader, kills Jane and takes Abby to the restaurant.

Vanessa treats Mike’s injuries and reveals that she is the daughter of William Afton, the serial killer who kidnapped and killed the five children and Garrett. He hid their bodies in the animatronics, knowing that the police would never find them and that their souls were under his control. Realizing that the animatronics plan to kill Abby and have her join them, Mike rushes to the restaurant. The animatronics are defeated, but reactivated by Steve, who arrives in a “yellow rabbit” suit, [b] revealing himself to be William.

Knowing animatronics like drawing, Abby draws a picture of William killing her to free them from his influence and realize their truth. Vanessa tries to stop her father but he stabs her. After the animatronics see Abby’s drawing, they turn on William. Mr. Cupcake cuts off part of William’s suit, triggering its internal springlock mechanism, fatally injuring him. As they drag her away, Mike and Abby kick Vanessa out of the restaurant, who later falls into a coma and is hospitalized. After a while, Mike and Abby reconcile and resume their normal lives.

Cast and characters

Josh Hutcherson as Mike Schmidt, a new security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza
Wyatt Parker as Young Mike
Piper Rubio as Abby, Mike’s younger sister
Elizabeth Lyle as Vanessa, a local police officer
Emma Jo Tassin as Young Vanessa
Mary Stewart Masterson as Aunt Jane, Mike and Abby’s aunt
Matthew Lillard as Steve Raglan / William Afton, Mike’s career counselor
Cat Connor Sterling as Max, Abby’s babysitter
David Lind as Jeff, the leader of a teenage gang and Max’s brother
Christian Stokes as Hank, a member of Jeff’s gang
Joseph Poliquin as Carl, a member of Jeff’s gang
Grant Feeley as Ghost Kid (Blonde Boy), the murdered child whose spirit haunts Golden Freddy
Asher Colton Spence as Ghost Kid (with Hook), the murdered child whose spirit haunts Foxy
David Huston Dottie Ghost Kid (with bunny ears), the murdered child whose spirit haunts Bonnie
Liam Hendrix Ghost Kid (with hat), the murdered child whose spirit haunts Freddie Fazbear
Jophiel Love as Ghost Kid (Blue Eyed Girl), the murdered child whose spirit haunts Chika
Tadase Young as Dr. Lillian
Michael P. as Doug. Sullivan, Jane’s lawyer
Lucas Grant as Garrett, Mike’s younger brother who was kidnapped as a child
Theodos Crane as Jeremiah, Mike’s former colleague
Matthew Patrick as Sparky’s diner waiter
Corey Williams as Cabbie

Suite performers include Kevin Foster Freddy Fazbear, the restaurant’s namesake brown bear animatronic; Jade Kinder-Martin as Bonnie, a blue rabbit animatronic; and Jessica Weiss as Chica, a yellow chicken animatronic. Foxy, a red pirate fox animatronic who sings the haunting pirate song throughout the film is played by Kellan Gough.

Box Office

As of November 26, 2023, Five Nights at Freddy’s has grossed $136.2 million in the United States and Canada and $159.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $295.5 million.

In the United States and Canada, Five Nights at Freddy’s was released alongside Freelance and After Death and was initially projected to gross around $50 million from 3,550 theaters in its opening weekend. After earning $39.4 million on its first day (including $10.3 million from Thursday night previews, the largest ever for a film with a simultaneous streaming release), estimates rose to $78 million. It debuted to $80 million, topping the box office. The film had the second-best day-and-date opening weekend (behind Black Widow’s $80.3 million in 2021), the best opening weekend for a horror film in 2023, Blumhouse’s best opening, topping Halloween’s $76.2 million and the second-highest opening for a video behind The Super Mario Bros. Movie. $146.4 million last April for the game film. The film took first place the following weekend with $19.4 million, though the 76% drop was the biggest of all time.

About

Directed by	Emma Tammi
Screenplay by	·         Scott Cawthon ·         Seth Cuddeback ·         Emma Tammi
Story by	·         Scott Cawthon ·         Chris Lee Hill ·         Tyler MacIntyre
Based on	Five Nights at Freddy’s by Scott Cawthon
Produced by	·         Scott Cawthon ·         Jason Blum
Starring	·         Josh Hutcherson ·         Elizabeth Lail ·         Mary Stuart Masterson ·         Matthew Lillard
Cinematography	Lyn Moncrief
Edited by	·         Andrew Wesman ·         William Paley
Music by	·         The Newton Brothers
Production companies	·         Blumhouse Productions ·         Scott Cawthon Productions
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	·         October 25, 2023 (United Kingdom) ·         October 27, 2023 (United States)
Running time	109 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$20 million
Box office	$295.5 million

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