Five Nights at Freddy’s, a horror adaptation of the popular Universal and Blumhouse video game, was a hit in its box office debut with $78 million in North America and $130 million worldwide.
For a horror film with a budget of $20 million and being released simultaneously on the Internet (in this case, the NBCUniversal-owned Peacock service), those ticket sales would be significant by end From his theatrical career. In just three days of release, “Five Nights at Freddy’s” has already surpassed the global gross of 2022’s “Halloween Ends” ($104 million) and will soon surpass 2021’s “Halloween Kills” ($133 million) — which was previously ranked as the biggest Film hybrid releases from Universal and Peacock. Unlike “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” these were sequels to a time-tested film series.
“Every studio should take note. This could be a game-changer, and another clear blueprint for event-level horror films.” [and] “It’s just tweaks to the game,” says Sean Robbins, senior analyst at Boxoffice Pro, noting the mass appeal of horror films. “FNAF has become a cult classic over the past decade with a young, passionate fanbase that represents an important segment of the rising generation of moviegoers.”
Josh Hutcherson stars in the horror film, which follows a night 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 because this animated mascot is prone to getting killed. A movie version of “Five Nights at Freddy’s” has been in the works since 2015, but Jason Blum’s Blumhouse has finally cracked the code. Box office analysts believed that the PG-13 rating and key Halloween release date were also in its favor.
“It’s a lot of fun when it works.” Bloom wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Thank you all so much for being so patient with us at Five Nights at Freddy’s.” We wanted to make it relevant 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 (it has a 25% on Rotten Tomatoes). However, this kind of inconsistency does not usually matter for the horror genre. Word of mouth can prevent the second-weekend slump that often plagues scary movies. But either way, “Five Nights at Freddy’s” is already up there with “The Nun II” ($85 million), “M3GAN” ($95 million), and “Scream VI” ($108 million) as the highest-grossing horror films. Absolutely no profit. the year.
In addition to its box office fortunes, “Five Nights at Freddy’s” has been the most watched and biggest driver in terms of subscriptions since its debut on Peacock since its October 26 release. However, Peacock has far fewer subscribers than competitors like Disney+ and Netflix, and Peacock has far fewer subscribers than competitors like Disney+ and Netflix. The streamer did not provide metrics to support these accolades.
Some analysts believe the hybrid release leaves money on the table. David A says: “The privileged 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 Gross, who runs the film consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “The audience watching at home this weekend will not get that experience, and will lose out on ticket sales.”
With “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” that didn’t seem to stop a lot of fans from purchasing tickets. Here are all the box office records “Five Nights at Freddy’s” set in its opening weekend, according to Universal:
local
- Highest opening weekend for a Blumhouse film, surpassing 2018’s “Halloween” ($76.22 million)
- Blumhouse’s 19th 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)
- The second biggest debut ever for a video game adaptation, after The Super Mario Bros. Movie. ($146.3 million)
- The second-best opening weekend for a day-and-date streaming release, behind only 2021 Disney Marvel adventure “Black Widow” ($80 million in theaters, $60 million on Disney+).
- The biggest opening weekend ever for a Universal and Peacock hybrid, beating out the slasher sequels, 2021’s “Halloween Kills” ($49 million) and 2022’s “Halloween Ends” ($40 million).
- Highest-grossing opening weekend for a Halloween release, besting 2011’s “Puss in Boots” ($34 million)
- The third-biggest debut for any horror film, behind 2017’s “It” ($123 million) and 2019’s “It: Chapter Two” ($91 million).
- Best debut for a PG-13 horror film, beating 2001’s The Mummy Returns ($68 million)
international
- Second biggest horror opening after The Nun II ($52.7 million)
worldwide
- Biggest horror opening of 2023, ahead of The Nun II ($88.1 million)
- Blumhouse’s highest global opening ever, ahead of “Halloween” ($91.8 million)