Five Nights at Freddy’s took theaters through the typhoon this weekend, grossing $78 million at the domestic box office, breaking records and already joining the ranks of the most financially successful horror films of all time.
Five Nights at Freddy’s, a horror film based on the popular video game, opened in theaters on October 27 and began streaming on Peacock the day before.
The film has become a box office success, grossing $78 million in its opening weekend at the domestic BoxArray, exceeding industry expectations and smoothly exceeding its $20 million budget.
The outperformance at the box office has already made Five Nights at Freddy’s one of the biggest horror films of the year, and it has achieved the third-highest opening weekend box office overall for any horror film.
Five Nights at Freddy’s stars Josh Hutcherson as a security guard at an abandoned family entertainment center where animatronic characters come to life and try to kill him.
Five Nights at Freddy’s exceeded box office expectations (and several box office records) over the weekend. It won the biggest opening weekend at the box office for any horror film released this year, and had the biggest opening weekend for any film released over Halloween weekend. It reported Variety. La director Emma Tammi also won the biggest opening weekend for a horror film directed by a woman. Reportedly, the film’s excellent performance at the box office surprised industry players due to its simultaneous streaming release on Peacock. Although the film was a hit with audiences, it failed to impress critics. It only has a 28% score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it one of many video game adaptations that have garnered poor reviews.
$131 million. That’s how much Five Nights at Freddy’s grossed in its first weekend worldwide.
Horror videos are trustworthy at the box office, even in the post-pandemic era, when total cinema attendance has declined. Many are made with small budgets, making it less difficult for videos to make a profit: CNBC reported that most horror videos released in 2022 were produced with budgets between $16 million and $35 million. Several horror videos released since last year have grossed nine figures, adding Smile, Nope, and Halloween Ends, all released in 2022, and M3GAN, Scream VI, and The Nun II, released. This year. In 2017, it was the sixth highest-grossing film of the year at the domestic box office.
Not all horror videos are poised to turn a profit: The Exorcist: Believer has grossed more than $120 million internationally since its Oct. 6 release, but the film’s functionality was deemed underwhelming as Universal Pictures and streaming service Peacock reportedly paid $400 million for the film. A report from Deadline is skeptical about the show’s profitability, stating that the Exorcist logo is less recognizable than other horror franchises, such as the rebooted Halloween trilogy in 2018, which benefited from iconic villain Michael Meyers.
What will be the total volume of Five Nights at Freddy’s and maybe it will be the next big horror franchise?Production company Blumhouse and Universal are reportedly discussing sequels.
The Most Productive Video Game Adaptations Criticized by Critics and That Have Achieved Great Results, While Five Nights At Freddy’s Receives Bad Reviews (Forbes)
‘Five Nights At Freddy’s’ Is On Track To Gross $78 Million In Its Opening, The Biggest Opening Ever For A Halloween Weekend (Forbes)
‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ Ticket Sales: All Records Broken on Opening Weekend (Variety)
‘M3gan’ Blockbuster Paves the Way for a Scary Good Year in Horror (CNBC)