“Five Nights at Freddy’s,” Universal and Blumhouse’s spooky adaptation of the popular video game, scored a smash hit in its theatrical debut, grossing $78 million in North America and $130 million worldwide.
For a $20 million-budgeted horror film that simultaneously landed on streaming (in this case, on NBCUniversal-owned Peacock), those ticket sales at the end of its theatrical run would have been significant. In just three days of release, “Five Nights at Freddy’s” has already surpassed the total worldwide gross of 2022’s “Halloween Ends” ($104 million) and will soon surpass “Halloween Kills” ($133 million). from 2021 – which was previously considered the biggest hybrid release from Universal and Peacock. And unlike Five Nights at Freddy’s, these slasher sequels came from a proven film series.
“Every studio should take note of this. This can be groundbreaking and another clear blueprint for event-level horror films [and] game adaptations,” says Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Boxoffice Pro, noting the general appeal of horror films. “‘FNAF’ has become a cult classic over the last decade with a young and passionate fan base that represents an important part of the emerging generation of moviegoers.”
Josh Hutcherson stars in the horror film, which is about a night-time security guard at a family entertainment center called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. But he finds out the hard way that it’s not exactly Chuck E. Cheese, as these animatronic mascots are prone to murder. A film adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy’s has been in the works since 2015, but Jason Blum’s company Blumhouse has finally cracked the code. Box office analysts believe the PG-13 rating and prime Halloween release date also worked in its favor.
“It’s so much fun when it works” Blum wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Thank you to everyone who was patient with us on Five Nights at Freddy’s.” We wanted to make it just right for the fans. That’s all we focused on.”
Audiences responded enthusiastically to the film (which received an A-CinemaScore), in contrast to unimpressed critics (the film received a 25% rating on Rotten Tomatoes). However, for the horror genre, this kind of discrepancy usually doesn’t matter. Word of mouth could prevent the second-weekend slump that usually occurs with scary movies. But either way, “Five Nights at Freddy’s” is already in the same bracket as “The Nun II” ($85 million), “M3GAN” ($95 million) and “Scream VI” ($108 million). dollars) as the highest-grossing horror films of the year.
In addition to its box office success, “Five Nights at Freddy’s” has been Peacock’s most-watched and biggest subscription driver since its cancellation on October 26. However, Peacock has far fewer subscribers than competitors like Disney+ and Netflix, and the streamer hasn’t provided metrics to back up those awards.
Some analysts believe a hybrid release leaves money on the table. “The premium experience of watching a horror movie is sitting shoulder to shoulder in a dark room, jumping, gasping and laughing with a room full of strangers,” says David A. Gross, who runs the film consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research . “The audience watching at home this weekend will not have that experience and ticket sales will be lost.”
At Five Nights at Freddy’s, it didn’t seem to stop too many fans from buying tickets. Here are all the box office records that “Five Nights at Freddy’s” set during its opening weekend, according to Universal:
Domestic
- Highest-grossing opening weekend for Blumhouse surpasses 2018’s ‘Halloween’ ($76.22 million)
- The 19th Blumhouse film opens at number one at the domestic box office
- Biggest opening weekend of the year for a horror film, surpassing “Scream VI” ($44 million)
- Second-biggest debut ever for a video game adaptation behind The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($146.3 million)
- Second-best opening weekend for a daily streaming release behind Disney’s 2021 Marvel adventure “Black Widow” ($80 million in theaters and $60 million on Disney+)
- Biggest opening weekend ever for Universal and Peacock hybrid releases, ahead of 2021’s slasher sequels “Halloween Kills” ($49 million) and 2022’s “Halloween Ends” ($40 million)
- Highest-grossing opening weekend for Halloween weekend release surpasses 2011’s Puss in Boots ($34 million)
- The third-biggest debut for a horror film, behind 2017’s It ($123 million) and 2019’s It: Chapter Two ($91 million).
- Best debut PG-13 horror film, better than 2001’s The Mummy Returns ($68 million)
International
- Second biggest horror opening after “The Nun II” ($52.7 million)
Global
- Biggest horror opening of 2023, ahead of The Nun II ($88.1M)
- World’s Biggest Ever Blumhouse Opening Before ‘Halloween’ ($91.8 Million)