5 Reasons Five Nights At Freddy's Killed At The Box Office
After spending nearly a decade caught in development hell, the "Five Nights at Freddy's" movie finally hit theaters over the weekend, and it did so with a bang that caught the industry off guard. Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions delivered one of the biggest horror hits ever in its opening weekend, and that is no exaggeration. We're talking about the third biggest opening weekend ever for a horror movie, trailing only the blockbuster debuts of both "It" ($123 million opening) and "It Chapter Two" ($91 million).
"Five Nights at Freddy's" opened to $80 million domestically to go with $52 million internationally for a staggering $132 million global start, per Variety. Its budget was in the $20 million range, making this an instant runaway success, far beyond what anyone in the industry had predicted, myself included. Director Emma Tammi's adaptation of the wildly popular video game series shattered expectations. The most amazing part? The film was released on Peacock on the same day it hit theaters. People can easily watch the movie at home but they resoundingly chose to go see it in theaters. It tied Marvel's "Black Widow" for the biggest opening weekend ever for a day-and-date release. It's that big.
So what went so right for this long-in-the-works video game film? How was it able to overcome negative reviews from critics? Why did the movie do so much more business than analysts projected? While there is going to be much to discuss in the coming weeks (read our review here), for now, we're going to look at the five biggest reasons for the movie's runaway success. Let's get into it.
A lack of direct competition
The Halloween season needs a big horror movie every year to give people something spooky to watch in theaters. Moviegoers want to have that communal experience during the year's scariest holiday and "Five Nights at Freddy's" filled that hole this year. The other big-name horror flicks were already released earlier in the season, with "The Nun II," "Saw X," and "The Exorcist: Believer" all hitting theaters within the last handful of weeks. They've all run out of gas at this point, which cleared the path for "Freddy's."
The games are absurdly popular
This one may seem obvious to those who are in on it, but it cannot be overstated enough in light of what happened over the weekend: "Five Nights at Freddy's" is an absurdly popular video game series. The games became a total sensation online over the last decade, with YouTuber Markiplier's playthrough video from 2014 boasting 114 million views. That is but one example, as there are countless other "Freddy's" videos with millions of views, not to mention how many copies of the games have been sold over the years. There are also tie-in novels, toys, and a shocking amount of lore for people to dive into. This franchise has been wildly huge for years, and it's one people enjoy obsessively. The movie was just the next logical step.
Young people came out in droves
The most important metric when looking at the success this movie has enjoyed is the demographics. Specifically, young moviegoers. A staggering 81% of people who saw "Five Nights at Freddy's" in theaters on opening weekend were younger than 25, per Box Office Pro. This simply doesn't happen. Yes, young people go to the movies, but for a movie to be so heavily favored by younger viewers is close to unheard of, particularly in the modern era. Much has been made of the decision to go with a PG-13 rating, but that clearly allowed a lot of 17 and younger moviegoers to goose the ticket sales. Blumhouse catered to the correct audience, and that audience turned out in droves.
Horror consistently wins
I have been beating this drum for the past couple of years now, but it always bears repeating: horror is the most consistent genre at the box office right now. In 2023, we've seen more superhero flops than hits, with films like "The Flash" tanking badly. Superheroes are no longer the presumed, dominant force theatrically. But studio-produced horror in theaters, meanwhile, has only suffered a few true misfires. In the case of something like "Renfield," that had more to do with the budget than anything else. "Five Nights at Freddy's" capitalized on the fever for the genre right now, and specifically, it gave young folks a horror movie to embrace for the Halloween season. This is what can happen when horror catches the right wave at the right time.
Blumhouse's good name
Last but not least, we must address the Blumhouse of it all. The house that Jason Blum built has been the most consistent name in genre filmmaking over the last 20 years, dating back to "Paranormal Activity." Blumhouse is a name that horror fans have come to trust. The fact that they were able to put stuff like, "From the studio that brought you 'M3GAN' and 'The Black Phone'" in the trailers certainly doesn't hurt anything. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. We're also talking about the studio responsible for franchises like "The Purge," "Insidious," "Happy Death Day," and the most recent "Halloween" trilogy. Then, we also have hits like "Get Out," "Split," and "The Invisible Man." Blumhouse's track record speaks for itself at this point.
Much like A24 has built a reputation for lovers of indie film and auteur cinema, Blumhouse has become the go-to horror hit-maker in Hollywood. It's undeniable at this point that having that name attached to your movie helps matters. Does Blumhouse always make big hits? No. But the ones that hit do hit very hard, and those are the ones that stick in the minds of the moviegoing masses. The hits far outweigh the misses, and that has earned the studio a certain level of credibility.
"Five Nights at Freddy's" is in theaters now.