Written by: Kathryn Harbauer, Staff Writer
FINALLY: After nearly eight years, the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie is finally out of pre-production, and filming is nearly finished .
Created by Scott Cawthon, Five Nights at Freddy’s is a horror game franchise, where as a security guard in various pizzerias, the player defends themself against animatronics for five nights. The franchise exploded to fame in late August 2014, leading to over 10 games, many books, and a movie deal in subsequent years. However, in particular, the movie witnessed a long journey to the point where it is today. In 2015, Warner Bros purchased film rights to the series , which began development until 2017, when Blumhouse Productions bought the rights and assigned Home Alone director Chris Columbus to direct. This movie project, although continuously hyped up by the fans, would be stuck in development hell for roughly 5 years, as Cawthon cycled through scripts ranging from a parody of Muppets Take Manhattan to a book adaptation.
Photo of Josh Hutcherson as Mike Schmidt, the main character, standing in a fountain with various film crew watching. Photo from FNAF Movie Updates on Twitter
Yet, in October 2022, Blumhouse owner Jason Blum revealed the movie was finally in its final stages of pre-production, a phase of movie/television production where the most important details of filming are planned out, including casting, location scouting, and selection of the artistic crew. Blum announced on his Twitter that the Jim Henson Company would be creating the puppets, Emma Tammi – who had previously directed horror movies like The Wind – would direct, and most crucially, filming would finally begin in February 2023. Fans exploded with excitement, sharing the cast they wanted to see, the most desirable plot (in the franchise’s convoluted world of lore), and even soundtrack ideas. Before filming, Blumhouse also announced the casting of Matthew Lillard, Mary Stuart Masterson, Josh Hutcherson as the main character Mike, and Piper Rubio.
On February 1st, actors and crew members began to post pictures of their arrival in New Orleans, where the filming would take place, with recording starting that same day. Fans became more and more excited, especially since pictures of the set were leaked by onlookers in New Orleans, who just so happened to recognize the ginormous Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza logo. Filming remained relatively quiet for the first few weeks, until more set pictures were revealed, including one of an ice cream shop in a mall and a video of Hutcherson, inside of a mall fountain, punching someone, while wearing a shirt labeled ‘SECURITY’ in giant letters. Throughout the final weeks of filming, a few more casting announcements dropped and close-ups of the animatronic characters created by the Jim Henson Company would be revealed. Filming wrapped on April 3rd, allowing the movie to enter its final phase, post-production, where the film will be edited and teasers, trailers, and other promotional material released.
Photo of the exterior of the Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza set, located in Chalmette, Louisiana. Photographed by abramest on Reddit.
Fans of the game franchise are still excited for this movie and many since they were very young, even in elementary or middle school, with the first few announcements of the movie revealed back in 2015 and 2016. Throughout the filming process, fans hyper analyzed IMDB pages, casting websites, and set photos to discover possible details about the movie, and they did what Five Nights at Freddy’s fans do best – speculate. However, speculation seemingly kept the fan interest in the movie alive during its7 years stuck in production purgatory and eventual filming.
With filming finally over and editing commencing, the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie may be released on or around Halloween 2023, which is a hope of many fans of the series. A Halloween release would complement the movie’s horror factor and be well-timed, since the third game coincidentally takes place in October of 2023. Many are excited for this film, and although long in the making, the movie is getting closer and closer to release.