Five Nights at Freddy’s is officially out now in theaters, and Blumhouse’s take on the popular indie horror video game series already looks to be a major cultural event. Released just in time for Halloween, FNAF follows security guard Mike Schmidt and his sister Abby after Mike takes a job at the abandoned family animatronic restaurant, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.
Also, the animatronics there are possessed and trying to kill him. Uh-oh!
FNAF premiered in the U.K. on October 25, and in the U.S. on October 27. The film hasn’t received the best critical reviews, but don’t let all those film buffs on Letterboxd fool you. FNAF may not be the best horror movie ever, but it’s a money-making machine that’s proven to be one of the most popular and successful horror films in cinematic history.
Crazy, right? If you want to know just how Five Nights at Freddy’s performed at the box office, here’s the full stats.
FNAF’s box office numbers so far
Despite claims that FNAF is “goreless” and “ploddingly predictable,” the film has been a resounding success at the box office. Calling the film a “surprise box office sensation over the weekend,” the New York Times reports that FNAF earned approximately $131 million internationally from launch to Sunday. Around $78 million of that initial income alone came from U.S. and Canadian audiences.
Given FNAF had just a $20 million production budget, Blumhouse and Universal are looking at an incredibly strong opening performance.
FNAF is set to be a record-breaker in more ways than one. According to Box Office Mojo, FNAF had one of the best U.S. opening weekends in cinematic history—it had the fifth highest U.S. opening weekend ever for an October release, the seventh highest opening weekend for a fall film, and had the 118th biggest opening domestic weekend overall. FNAF’s opening day income alone beat out 2002’s Spider-Man, Joker, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and the recently released Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.
NBC also told the Times that FNAF is “tracking to have the biggest opening ever for a film on Peacock.”
FNAF is a Blumhouse success story
For Universal Pictures, FNAF is a mega success, particularly among young viewers. 80 percent of tickets were purchased by viewers under 25, according to ABC News, with 38 percent of all tickets among viewers aged 13 to 17. FNAF will likely open the door to more horror films aimed at Gen Alpha and Gen Z. Yes, FNAF could open the door to more young adult horror film releases: Slightly predictable, but just goreless enough to attract young viewers with very little scary movie experience.
Blumhouse’s Jason Blum declared that Emma Tammi had “the biggest opening weekend ever for a horror film directed by a woman,” per NYT. On Sunday, Blum also said that FNAF is the “biggest Blumhouse opening movie of all time.”
“And it’s official. We did something else,” he tweeted on X (previously known as Twitter). “Thank you again #FNAF fans.”
So yes, FNAF is a cultural sensation. As for a second film? That’s yet to be determined.
(featured image: Universal Pictures)
