Hot on the heels of the reveal that Emma Tammi’s Five Nights at Freddy’s recently became Blumhouse’s biggest global opening ever, the biggest opening ever for a horror film directed by a woman, and the highest opening ever for a PG-13 horror movie comes the news that yet another record has been broken.
According to Deadline, Five Nights at Freddy’s is now “Peacock’s most-watched film or series ever in its first five days on the streaming platform,” beating out other titles like Halloween Ends and The Super Mario Bros. Movie. It is also apparently “the most-watched entertainment title across all genres since its debut.” Good lord!
Five Nights at Freddy’s has received a mixed response since its release, and it would appear that at least some of that divisiveness is generational: fans who grew up with Scott Cawthon’s blockbuster video game series seem very much onboard with what Tammi, Cawthon and Blumhouse brought to the big screen (and, yes, the small screen), whereas older viewers with no personal connection to or context for Five Nights at Freddy’s lore seem less enthused. The takeaway here? If you’re gonna adapt a beloved piece of IP into a feature film, worry about making the fans happy first.
Tammi’s film, for those who somehow remain unaware, concerns a troubled young man named Mike (played by Josh Hutcherson) who takes on a security guard job at a long-dormant pizzeria by the name of Freddy Fazbear’s. Modeled after Chuck E. Cheese and other eateries of its ilk, Freddy Fazbear’s contains a band of giant animatronic animals who have a thing for mangling human bodies. Why this keeps happening and how it can be stopped is something for Mike to figure out … and hopefully before too many more bodies pile up.
How will Five Nights at Freddy’s hold up during its second weekend in theaters? We’ll have to wait and see, but we suspect that we’ll have an official announcement about a Five Nights at Freddy’s sequel sooner rather than later. Stay tuned for further updates as they roll in, folks.
