“Five Nights at Freddy’s” Box Office: Aiming for a Scary-Good $50 million debut

“Five Nights at Freddy’s,” a haunting horror movie from Universal and Blumhouse, is hoping to do very well at the box office when it debuts. Although analysts predict the video game adaption will bring in at least $50 million over the weekend, there’s a chance it will bring in more.

“Five Nights at Freddy’s” is expected to be one of the largest horror premieres of the year, which is all the more impressive considering that it will release concurrently on Peacock. As of right now, “Scream VI” ($44.4 million), “The Nun II” ($32 million), “M3GAN” ($30 million), and “The Exorcist: Believer” ($26.4 million) are the genre’s biggest debuts of 2023.

Studios appear to be going back to exclusive theatrical windows, with the exception of “Five Night at Freddy’s,” as it has been shown to be more successful than hybrid releases. The $20 million production budget of “Five Nights at Freddy’s” means, however, that movie doesn’t need to perform exceptionally well to turn a profit.

Although Peacock’s subscriber base is smaller than that of Disney+ or Netflix, the day-and-date release of “Five Nights” may bring in a brief boost to the box office. This was the case with Universal’s 2022 horror follow-up “Halloween Ends,” which debuted on Peacock concurrently with a huge $40 million opening. However, following weeks saw a precipitous decline in ticket sales, which peaked at just $64 million in North America and $104 million worldwide. Despite starting with a $49 million budget (and a simultaneous streaming release), the film’s predecessor, “Halloween Kills,” from 2021, went on to gross $92 million domestically and $133 million internationally.

Both sequels, nevertheless, fell short of the first “Halloween” reboot in 2018, which was only released in theatres. With an initial budget of $76 million, the Jamie Lee Curtis-starring thriller dramatically exceeded expectations, ending with $159 million in North America and $259 million globally.

Five Nights at Freddy’s will easily top domestic charts and provide the autumn box office the much-needed boost, given it has no competition to frighten away. With the exception of Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” and Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour,” which will compete for second place, October has been quiet. “Killers of the Flower Moon” is expected to add $11 million to $13 million throughout the course of the project, while “The Eras Tour” is expected to come in first with $13 million to $15 million.

“Five Nights at Freddy’s,” directed by Emma Tammi, features Josh Hutcherson as a security guard who takes a job at a shuttered Chuck E. Cheese-like establishment throughout the night. Yet it’s not family-friendly. When he learns that the animatronic mascots have a darker side, they turn on anyone who remains after midnight.