The Thanksgiving holiday weekend is always a big one for the U.S. box office, and this year proved to be no exception, particularly when it came to such mega-releases as The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, Ridley Scott’s Napoleon and Disney’s latest animated heartwarmer Wish. But those certainly weren’t the only films with something to celebrate, as the video game adaptation Five Nights at Freddy’s managed to hit a huge milestone for not just the film, but the studio that brought it to life. So like…where’s all the sequel news?
When the five-day totals were tallied for the festive weekend's box office results, Five Nights at Freddy’s confirmed itself as the most successful Blumhouse Productions release to date on a global scale. Currently, FNAF has made a worldwide total of $283.1 million, a number that puts it safely atop M. Night Shyamalan’s 2016 stealth sequel Split, which tapped out of its box office run at $278.7 million. To everyone around the planet: all hail Freddy Fazbear!
Considering how long the James McAvoy thriller had been holding the Blumhouse crown, it wasn’t so certain that any of the production company’s lower-budgeted fare would be popular enough to crush that hard in theaters. Even when it comes to a mega-popular video game franchise like Five Nights, the transition to live-action is hardly ever a guarantee for success these days, and it seemed even less likely in a year where The Super Mario Bros. Movie completely crushed out. Audiences are forever unpredictable.
Let’s not forget that Five Nights at Freddy’s also holds the record for Blumhouse’s biggest U.S. debut, with its $80 million domestic opening beating out 2018’s Halloween, which earned $76.22 million when it landed on the big screen. That said, FNAF has yet to break into Blumhouse’s Top 3 by way of U.S. earnings. The holiday weekend took its total up to $136.2 million, which is still behind Split ($138.2 million), Halloween ($159.3 million) and Get Out ($176 million). The Emma Tammi-directed horror will likely hit that third-place spot before all is said and done, assuming fans keep showing up to see Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy in action.
Why Hasn't Five Nights At Freddy's 2 Been Announced Yet?
As audiences are well aware, Hollywood studios often begin planning for giant pop culture franchises even before there’s any indication of how well something will do in theaters, and even a seemingly immortal behemoth like Marvel Studios is feeling the burn from the tempered success of The Marvels. So in that respect, I can totally understand why Universal and Blumhouse might have been hesitant to dive into an animatronic-filled trilogy right out of the gate.
But now that we’re a month beyond the record-setting theatrical debut, with the box office wins still coming in, I don’t quite understand why things are still so silent on the studios’ part. Sure, the execs could just be figuring out budgets and scheduling and when to aim for release, but it’s just a bit odd for there to be this much silence about it in an industry notorious for over-promising.
Emma Tammi told CinemaBlend she’s hoping for a sequel, with that final message laid into the end credits as a teaser for what’s potentially to come. And Jason Blum has been hyping up live-action FNAF in big ways since the project was first announced, so he of all people is likely champing at the bit to get a second film greenlit. Perhaps the critical feedback is being taken to heart, with new ideas being incorporated into the scripting process.
Until we know more, Five Nights at Freddy’s is available to stream at home with a Peacock subscription.
