Five Nights at Freddy's

Released in 2023, Five Nights at Freddy’s is a supernatural horror film directed by Emma Tammi and produced by Blumhouse Productions in association with Universal Pictures. It adapts Scott Cawthon’s video-game series, which began with the 2014 game of the same name. The screenplay was written by Tammi, Cawthon, and Seth Cuddeback, and Cawthon also served as a producer, giving the film a direct connection to the franchise’s creator.

Josh Hutcherson plays Mike Schmidt, a troubled young man struggling to keep custody of his younger sister, Abby, after the unresolved childhood disappearance of his brother Garrett. Mike accepts an overnight security job at the long-abandoned Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a family restaurant that once featured singing animatronic characters. During his shifts, he discovers that Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, and Golden Freddy are controlled by the ghosts of children who were murdered at the restaurant years earlier. Abby becomes fascinated by the animatronics, while Mike’s dreams gradually reveal connections between the killings and Garrett’s disappearance.

Piper Rubio portrays Abby, and Elizabeth Lail plays Vanessa, a local police officer who knows more about Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza than she initially admits. Matthew Lillard appears as Steve Raglan, the employment counselor who sends Mike to the restaurant, and later becomes important to the film’s explanation of the murders. Mary Stuart Masterson portrays Aunt Jane, Mike and Abby’s legal guardian, whose attempt to obtain custody creates another immediate threat for the siblings.

The movie’s production history was unusually lengthy. A film adaptation was announced in 2015, but development passed through several writers and directors before Tammi became attached. Filming eventually took place in New Orleans in 2022, with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop creating the primary animatronic characters. The practical puppets were central to the production and allowed the film to reproduce the recognizable mechanical appearance of the games’ mascots.

Five Nights at Freddy’s opened in theaters in the United States on October 27, 2023, while also becoming available for streaming on Peacock. Its release strategy produced strong audience interest, particularly among established fans of the games. The film expands the game’s mythology through Mike, Abby, Garrett, and Vanessa while retaining the restaurant setting, surveillance-based suspense, and haunted animatronics that define the original series.