Five Nights at Freddy’s Box Office Revised Even Higher, Ties Black Widow Record

Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza served millions of satisfied customers over the weekend. Blumhouse’s Five Nights at Freddy’s came to life with $80 million at the domestic box office, higher than Sunday’s estimates of $78 million. Universal and Blumhouse’s PG-13, family-friendly horror flick based on the fan-favorite video game franchise dethroned Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film (No. 2 in its second weekend with $14.7 million) and beat Blumhouse’s own Halloween, which scared up Jason Blum’s then-biggest opening with $76 million in October 2018. Freddy’s, which went day-and-date in theaters and on Peacock, also topped another Blumhouse release that was available to stream on the same day it hit theaters: the $49.4 million opening of Halloween Kills in October 2021.

That $80 million number has tied Marvel Studios’ Black Widow, the pandemic-era release that was the first — and only — Marvel movie to open day-and-date in July 2021. The Marvel Cinematic Universe installment took in $80.4 million domestically (and $67 million in streaming rentals) when Disney made Black Widow available in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access for a $30 fee. Freddy’s scored the fifth-best October opening, behind 2019’s Joker ($96.2 million), Taylor Swift: Eras Tour ($92.8M), 2021’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage ($90M), and 2018’s Venom ($80.2M).

Based on Scott Cawthon’s nearly decade-old survival horror game, Five Nights at Freddy’s also gave Universal and Blumhouse the second-biggest weekend start for a video game adaptation. The high score belongs to the animated The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the Universal-Illumination and Nintendo blockbuster that took the No. 1 spot with a record-smashing $146 million in April.

“The success of Five Nights was the culmination of many factors not the least of which was making the film accessible to younger fans via the less restrictive PG-13 rating,” Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, told CNBC. “Given the high level of interest by teen audiences, these key moviegoerswere clearly inspired to migrate from their gaming small screens to thebig screen to enjoy a communal, in-theater experience that droveweekend grosses to much higher-than-expected levels for Freddy’s.”

While the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie received a thumbs down from critics — it sits at 26% “rotten” on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes — Freddy’s fared better with moviegoers. The movie has an 88% audience score from more than 1,000 verified ticket buyers who rated Freddy’s on Rotten Tomatoes, and received an “A-” CinemaScore from first-night moviegoers.

Starring Josh Hutchinson (The Hunger Games) as a night security guard who encounters possessed animatronics at the abandoned theme restaurant Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, Five Nights at Freddy’s also stars Elizabeth Lail (You), Mary Stuart Masterson (Blindspot), Kat Conner Sterling (We Have a Ghost), and Matthew Lillard (Scream). Five Nights at Freddy’s is now playing in theaters and streaming on Peacock.