Five Nights at Freddy’s (Movie)

At Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a night guard is captured and killed by a torture device.

Later, mall security guard Mike Schmidt is fired for assaulting a father he mistook for a kidnapper. His career counselor, Steve Raglan, offers him a night guard job at the pizzeria. Mike reluctantly accepts to keep custody of his younger sister, Abby, away from their greedy aunt, Jane.

On his first night, Mike dreams about his brother Garrett’s kidnapping and sees five children who witnessed it. The next day, Jane hires vandals to trash the pizzeria and get Mike fired. That night, police officer Vanessa Shelly explains the pizzeria closed in the 1980s after children were murdered there. After Mike’s shift, the vandals are killed by the animatronic mascots—Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, and Mr. Cupcake. Mike brings Abby to his next shift, and the animatronics befriend her. Mike learns the animatronics are possessed by the ghosts of the missing children, who mention a “yellow rabbit.”

On the fourth night, Abby is hurt while bonding with the animatronics. The next morning, Mike leaves Abby with Jane and returns to the pizzeria. In his dream, the children offer to let him stay with Garrett if he gives them Abby. Mike initially agrees but changes his mind and is attacked. After escaping the torture device, Mike is injured. Meanwhile, a yellow Freddy animatronic, possessed by the children’s leader, kills Jane and takes Abby back to the pizzeria.

Vanessa reveals her father, William Afton, kidnapped and murdered Garrett and the other children, hiding their bodies in the animatronics and controlling their souls. Knowing the animatronics plan to kill Abby, Mike rushes to save her. The animatronics are reactivated by Steve, who reveals himself as William in the “yellow rabbit” suit. Mike tries to stop William but is overpowered. Vanessa also tries but is stabbed.

Abby draws a picture of William murdering the children to free the animatronics from his control. With Mike’s help, she shows it to the animatronics, who turn on William. The suit’s springlocks fatally wound him. The animatronics drag him away as Mike and Abby carry Vanessa out of the collapsing pizzeria.

Later, Vanessa is in a coma, while Mike and Abby resume their normal lives. At the pizzeria, the children’s leader watches a dying William before leaving him to his fate.

The cast of Five Nights at Freddy’s (film)

• Josh Hutcherson as Mike Schmidt, a struggling young man who takes a job as the night guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.
• Piper Rubio as Abby, Mike’s younger sister.
• Elizabeth Lail as Vanessa, a local police officer.
• Matthew Lillard as Steve Raglan / William Afton, Mike’s career counselor.
• Mary Stuart Masterson as Aunt Jane, 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.
• Lucas Grant as Garrett, Mike’s younger brother who was abducted as a child.

Which star’s acting did you like the most among the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie cast?

Five Nights at Freddy’s Movie Release Date

On October 27, 2023, Universal Pictures released Five Nights at Freddy’s both in theaters and on Peacock in the United States. However, the United Kingdom had the opportunity to watch the film two days earlier on October 25, 2023. After its initial run on Peacock, the film became available on Amazon Prime Video starting on March 5th.

Critical response (Five Nights at Freddy’s Movie)

Five Nights at Freddy’s received negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, only 32% of 212 critics gave positive reviews, with an average rating of 4.6/10. The consensus indicates that while fans of the game might enjoy it, most others will find the film confusing and not scary. Metacritic scored it 33 out of 100, showing generally unfavorable reviews. However, audiences on CinemaScore gave it an “A−” grade, and PostTrak reported a 77% positive score.

Variety’s Murtada Elfadl criticized the underutilization of animatronic characters and the focus on a baffling plot. Dylan Roth of The New York Observer gave it one out of five, citing the lack of real thrills and genuine humor.

Benjamin Lee of The Guardian rated it two out of five stars, describing it as a boring experience. Natalia Winkelmann of The New York Times noted that the film fails to achieve a good mix of horror and comedy. RogerEbert.com’s Simon Abrams gave it a two out of four rating, highlighting the lack of good dialogue and distinct characters.

Meagan Navarro from Bloody Disgusting gave the film three out of five stars, suggesting it could be fun for slumber parties. Neil Smith of Total Film found it predictable and not very scary, rating it two out of five stars.

Mark Kennedy from the Associated Press called it one of the worst films of the year, criticizing its attempt to balance comedy and horror within a PG-13 rating. Michael Phillips from the Chicago Tribune felt the film would have been better as an R-rated horror, mentioning frequent cutaways before any real gore could be shown.

Box Office Collection (Five Nights at Freddy’s Movie)

Five Nights at Freddy’s earned $137.3 million in the US and Canada and $159.9 million worldwide, totaling $297.2 million. Deadline Hollywood estimated its net profit at $161 million.

Initially projected to make $50 million in its opening weekend, the film earned $39.4 million on its first day, leading to revised estimates of $78 million. It debuted with $80 million, topping the box office. This marked the second-best opening for a simultaneous streaming release and the best for a 2023 horror film. It also set a record for Blumhouse and was the second-highest opening for a video game movie.

The film stayed in first place the next weekend with $19.4 million but saw a 76% drop. By its seventh weekend, it became Blumhouse’s highest-grossing film, surpassing “Split.” It ended its US and Canada run on December 21, 2023.