It isn’t a stretch to say that the Five Nights at Freddy’s Movie is one of the most anticipated flicks in recent memory, especially seeing as the film was first announced in April 2015. What would follow this initial announcement date, however, may very well be one of the strangest strings of incidents to ever plague a movie: massive script changes, production overhauls, and crew change-ups are just a few of the issues that pushed the anticipated release back almost a decade.
The animatronic-obsessed fan base of Five Nights at Freddy’s is matched only by the dedication of the series’ creator, Scott Cawthon. While audiences everywhere were clamoring for a rapid adaptation of the video game onto the silver screen, Cawthon was far more scrutinous when it came to the script. Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions was keen on making the film, but Scott didn’t feel quite the same way, saying, “I had a different idea for it, one that I liked better.” Freddy’s creator was set on ensuring that, if a movie was to be made, it would be one true to both his own desires and the fanbases.
Not all delays were caused by such overt changes to the filming process, but rather by the incredibly complicated lore that would be developed by the long-running series. Filming the movie in the midst of the games’ heyday was certainly going to be fraught with difficulty, seeing as new information surrounding the story would come out and consistently make what was already filmed obsolete. For example, since 2017, four FNAF games have been released, each with their own incredibly complicated story and character development.
This perfect storm of unfortunate circumstances would result in an unprecedented eight-year delay, but as of October 27, 2023, the wait is finally over. The reception was extremely mixed, however, as the movie currently has a 29% critic score compared to an 88% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Diehard fans enjoyed the faithful sticking to the source material, while the general public was not a fan of the lack of horror present in the film. With a 10-day total of $40.9 million, the Five Nights at Freddy’s film has more than doubled its $20 million budget and finally ended the near decade-long postponement.
