Five Nights at Freddy's (film)

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. It was directed by Emma Tammi, written by Cawthon, Tammi and Seth Cuddeback, and produced by Jason Blum and Cawthon. The film stars Josh Hutcherson as a troubled security guard who starts a job at an unsafe abandoned pizzeria, where he discovers that its animatronic mascots are possessed by the spirits of children who were murdered by a serial killer (portrayed by Matthew Lillard) years prior. It additionally features Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, and Mary Stuart Masterson in supporting roles.

Development of a Five Nights at Freddy's film adaptation began in April 2015 under Warner Bros. Pictures. Roy Lee, Seth Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg were set to produce it, with Gil Kenan announced as director and co-writer. After multiple production delays, further development on the film was transferred from Warner Bros. to Blum's Blumhouse Productions in March 2017 and Kenan resigned as director from the project that May. Chris Columbus was hired to direct and write the film in February 2018—which was subjected to further re-writing—ultimately leaving the project and being replaced by Tammi in October 2022. Principal photography occurred from February to April 2023 in New Orleans and surrounding communities, with Jim Henson's Creature Shop creating the animatronics.

Five Nights at Freddy's was simultaneously released for streaming on Peacock and theatrically in the United States on October 27, 2023, by Universal Pictures. The film received generally negative reviews from critics, though it was better received by audiences and fans of the source material, and was a commercial success, grossing $297 million on a budget of $20 million, becoming Blumhouse's highest grossing film until it was overtaken by Obsession (2025). A sequel, Five Nights at Freddy's 2, based on the second video game, was released in 2025, with most of the crew returning (including Tammi and Cawthon) and most of the main cast reprising their roles.

Plot

In 2000, mall security guard Mike Schmidt is fired for assaulting a father whom he had mistaken for a kidnapper. His career counselor, Steve Raglan, offers him a job as a night guard at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, a once-successful pizzeria. Mike accepts after social services threaten to take custody of his younger sister, Abby, and pass her to their estranged aunt, Jane, who desires the monthly custody payments.

During his first night, Mike falls asleep and has a nightmare about the kidnapping of his younger brother, Garrett. Within the nightmare, he meets five children who also witnessed the event. The next day, Jane hires a gang of vandals, including Abby's babysitter, Max, to vandalize the pizzeria and get Mike fired, hastening her custody of Abby. Mike meets police officer Vanessa Shelly, who explains that the building closed during the 1980s after several children went missing there. Once Mike's shift ends and he leaves, the vandals break in, but the pizzeria's animatronic mascots—Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy and Mr. Cupcake—kill the entire group.

On his third night, Mike brings Abby to work when Max fails to show. The animatronics befriend her and Mike discovers that they are possessed by the spirits of the missing children, who consistently mention a "yellow rabbit". Vanessa warns Mike not to touch the 'springlock' suits, which contain internal gears with a faulty design that can impale the wearer. On the fourth night, Abby is accidentally injured while bonding with the animatronics. The next day, Mike reluctantly allows Jane to babysit Abby while he goes back to Freddy’s with sleeping pills, hoping to induce more dreams to learn what happened to Garrett. In the dream, the children offer for Mike to stay with Garrett forever in exchange for Abby. Mike initially accepts, but when he changes his mind, he is attacked and injured by Foxy. A disused Freddy animatronic incapacitates Jane and brings Abby back to the pizzeria.

Vanessa reveals that she is the daughter of William Afton, the serial killer who kidnapped and murdered Garrett and the other children, hiding their corpses in the animatronics, and allowing their souls to be under his control. Realizing the animatronics plan to murder Abby and have her join them in the afterlife, Mike rushes to the pizzeria and thwarts the animatronics, but Afton arrives in the yellow rabbit suit and reactivates them. He then reveals himself to be Raglan and stabs Vanessa. Reminded of the animatronics' fondness of drawings, Abby draws a picture of Afton's actions to free them from his influence. Now knowing the truth, the animatronics turn on Afton, sabotaging his suit's springlock mechanisms and wounding him before he is dragged away.

Mike, Abby and Vanessa flee as the building collapses. Vanessa falls into a coma and is hospitalized, while Mike and Abby reconcile. At the pizzeria, the leader of the children observes the dying Afton before leaving him to his fate.

Cast

Josh Hutcherson as Mike Schmidt, a struggling young man who takes a job as the night guard of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Wyatt Parker additionally portrayed the character's younger self. Elizabeth Lail as Vanessa Shelly, a local police officer Piper Rubio as Abby Schmidt, Mike's younger sister Matthew Lillard as William Afton, Mike's career counselor and serial child murderer, who initially goes by the alias Steve Raglan Mary Stuart Masterson as Jane Schmidt, Mike and Abby's aunt Kat Conner Sterling as Max, Abby's babysitter David Lind as Jeff, the leader of a juvenile 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 Feely as the murdered child whose soul is possessing Golden Freddy Asher Colton Spence as the murdered child whose soul is possessing Foxy David Huston Doty as the murdered child whose soul is possessing Bonnie Liam Hendrix as the murdered child whose soul is possessing Freddy Fazbear Jophielle Love as the murdered child whose soul is possessing Chica Tadasay Young as Doctor Lillian, Abby's therapist Michael P. Sullivan as Doug, Jane's lawyer Lucas Grant as Garrett Schmidt, Mike and Abby's brother who was abducted by Afton as a child Theodus Crane as Jeremiah, Mike's previous co-worker Matthew Patrick as a waiter at a local diner Cory Williams as a taxi driver

The suit performers include Kevin Foster as Freddy Fazbear, the pizzeria's namesake and bear-based animatronic; Jade Kindar-Martin as Bonnie, a rabbit-based animatronic; and Jess Weiss as Chica, a chicken-based animatronic. The scatted pirate song that Foxy, a fox-based animatronic, sings throughout the film is performed by Kellen Goff, known for his voice roles in the source material.

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, who co-wrote the books in collaboration with ghostwriting firm Kevin Anderson and Associates, "to make an insane, terrifying and weirdly adorable movie". In July 2015, Gil Kenan signed to direct the film from a screenplay co-written with Tyler Burton Smith.

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

In February 2018, Chris Columbus was announced as Kenan's replacement as director and writer, besides producing the film alongside Blum and Cawthon. 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. That same month, Blum wrote on Twitter that the film was aiming for a 2020 release. 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. In June 2020, during an interview with Fandom, Blum, when asked about the progress of the film, stated:

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

Casting In December 2022, Josh Hutcherson and Matthew Lillard joined the cast in undisclosed roles. 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. In March 2023, it was reported that Kat Conner Sterling and Elizabeth Lail were cast in the film. Lucas Grant and Jessica Blackmore were also cast in undisclosed roles.

Mark Fischbach, also known as Markiplier, was contacted to have a role in the film as the security guard that preceded Mike before being murdered at the opening of the film, but turned it down due to scheduling conflicts with his own film Iron Lung.

Filming Principal photography was initially set to begin in March 2021. However, due to script issues, filming was delayed. Filming began in New Orleans on February 1, 2023, under the working title Bad Cupcake, with an estimated production budget of $25 million before tax incentives. The first scene filmed was at the fictional 'Sparky's Diner', with YouTuber Matthew "MatPat" Patrick present to film a cameo. Lillard began filming his scenes in mid-February. Filming wrapped on April 3.

Music

The Newton Brothers composed the film's score, while the fan-made song "Five Nights at Freddy's" by the Living Tombstone was featured in the end credits. "Talking in Your Sleep" by the Romantics is featured in multiple scenes where the song is performed by the animatronics.

Marketing and 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. It was released two days earlier on October 25, 2023, in the United Kingdom. The film was released on Amazon Prime Video on March 5, 2024, after its removal from Peacock.

In October 2023, the film's animatronics were put on display for Universal's Halloween Horror Nights at the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park, with a pop-up location also being built at Sunset Boulevard, both of which are located in Los Angeles, California. The latter is described as being decorated similarly to the Freddy Fazbear's Pizza location as seen in the film. A making-of book titled The Art and Making of Five Nights at Freddy's: The Movie was originally set to be released on August 20, 2024, but it is currently postponed indefinitely. A novelization of the film was released on December 26, 2023. The film was also released on digital platforms on November 28, followed by a Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K UHD release on December 12.

Reception Box office