‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ Movie: Release Date, Cast, Plot, and Everything We Know So Far

It seems 2023 is shaping up to be a monumental year for millions of gamers across the globe – particularly for those partial to a good scare. In January, we saw the television adaptation of Naughty Dog’s 2013 post-apocalyptic survival game The Last of Us land on HBO, which debuted as the platform’s second-biggest series premiere in history. The show quickly gained critical acclaim and was praised by long-time fans of the franchise for its faithful devotion to the source material, whilst also gaining a whole new audience. On a more family-friendly note, The Super Mario Brothers Movie recently broke all kinds of records at the box office scoring a massive $204.6 million in its first 5-days of release. Now comes Five Nights at Freddy’s, a terror-filled game-to-movie adaptation set to hit screens this fall. Gamers and horror fans alike are counting down the months until the FNaF movie release, eager to see their favorite game come to life on the big screen. Here at Collider, we’ve gathered everything we know about the highly-anticipated release into this helpful guide.

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Keep reading to find out everything we know so far about Five Nights at Freddy’s.

Related:The ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ Movie’s Long, Complicated Road to the Screen

What Is Five Nights at Freddy’s About?

Five Nights at Freddy’s centers on protagonist Mike Schmidt, a young man who takes on the role of the nighttime security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a family entertainment center consisting of a pizzeria and an indoor amusement park. As Mike settles into his new job, he soon makes a troubling discovery: the multiple (and extremely creepy) animatronic mascots used to entertain families during daylight hours are more than just your standard robot. They are in fact alive, filled with vengeance, and will kill anyone still in the building after midnight. Of course, none of this bodes well for night-shift guard Mike, who must use the limited resources around him to defend himself from the menacing bots and survive the long, torturous hours between 12 AM to 6 AM.

The official synopsis for the film via Blumhouse reads:

The film follows a troubled security guard as he begins working at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. While spending his first night on the job, he realizes the night shift at Freddy’s won’t be so easy to make it through.

Is There a Trailer for Five Nights at Freddy’s?

Currently, there is no trailer for the upcoming Five Nights at Freddy’s movie. However, don’t forget to keep an eye on this page to be the first to know when it’s available to watch.

In the meantime, check out the short trailer for the 2014 Five Nights at Freddy’s video game below. Long-time fans will no doubt be hit with a feeling of horrific nostalgia, while those that are planning to dive into the universe of FNaF for the first time will get a brief taste of exactly what they’re in for this coming fall:

Following the video game’s release, the 30-second trailer was posted on IGN’s official YouTube channel on September 3, 2014. In the nearly 9 years since the video’s release, it has accumulated just short of 18 million views. Although brief, the trailer is enough to elicit a deep sense of dread. It begins with the infamous Freddy Fazbear on stage alongside his animated (and equally creepy) friends, as excited children can be heard cheering in the background. However, when night falls, everything changes. Fazbear’s Pizza is described as a “place of joy” during the day, but at night, through the flickering lenses of security cameras, we see Freddy and his crew as they begin to unleash hell.

Who’s in the Cast of Five Nights at Freddy’s?

Images via Lionsgate; Warner Bros.

Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games) plays the terrified new night guard Mike Schmidt. Joining him are Matthew Lillard (Scream) as William Afton, Elizabeth Lail (You) as Vanessa, Mary Stuart Masterton (Fried Green Tomatoes) as an as-yet-unnamed villain, Piper Rubio (Unstable) as Abby, and Kat Conner Sterling (A Week Away) as Max.

When and Where Can You Watch Five Nights at Freddy’s?

Filming for Five Nights at Freddy’s began on February 1, 2023, after being delayed by almost two years due to script changes. The movie wrapped on April 3.

Three days later, on April 6, 2023, FNaF producer Jason Blum announced via Twitter that the movie will release on October 27, 2023 – just in time for Halloween.

It’s become increasingly common over the past few years for horror movies to debut simultaneously in theaters and on streaming services (think Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends – both also Blumhouse movies) and Five Nights at Freddy’s is no exception. On the day of its release, FNaF will be available in theaters across the United States, as well as on the streaming platform Peacock. Peacock plans start at $4.99 per month for all United States residents.

What Is the Background of Five Nights at Freddy’s?

Image via Scott Cawthon

The Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise began in August 2014, with the release of the first video game of the same title created by Scott Cawthon. In the game, players take on the role of Mike Schmidt and must defend themselves from the cursed animatronics by using a camera system and two doors with lights to their advantage. The player is assisted by the previous night guard known as Phone Guy. By 2015, there were a total of four installments of FNaF. Currently, there are a total of eight main series games and six spin-offs.

In August 2021, Cawthon began to help fans fund and publish their own FNaF games. A total of four series are available to play at present, with a fifth on the way.

In addition to this, FNaF has a novel trilogy, a series of short stories, and multiple graphic novels.

A film adaptation of the video games has been in the works since April 2015, eight months after the release of the first game. At the time Warner Bros was set to distribute the film with Roy Lee, Seth Grahame-Smith, and David Katzenberg, who were also working on It at the time, producing. Three months later it was announced that Gil Kenan, who was coming off of the Poltergeist remake, would direct the film and co-write the script alongside Tyler Burton Smith (Child’s Play 2019). Development stalled, and eventually Warner Bros put the project in turn-around, until March 2017 when Cawthon teased that the film would be heading over to Blumhouse. Things once again went quiet until nearly a year later, in February 2018, when it was announced that Chris Columbus (Home Alone) would write and direct the film. Though once again, the project languished in development hell due to screenwriting issues. In an interview with Collider in September 2021, Jason Blum revealed that Columbus would no longer be directing the movie, but stressed that he still fully planned on making the movie happen, saying:

“We’ve written multiple scripts, and we’ve got where we’re threading a needle, which is doing justice to Five Nights at Freddy’s and making Scott (Cawthon) happy. The only way that we would go about it is giving Scott … I don’t want to do something that Scott doesn’t like. Let me say that a different way. I don’t have the right to do anything Scott doesn’t like. Basically, Scott has kind of like the equivalent of ‘final cut’ and it’s taken longer than I hoped to get the right story.”

In August 2022, Blum once again teased the film with a behind-the-scenes image of the crew at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop working on the film’s animatronic characters.

Finally, in October 2022, the film was ready to go, after bringing in a new director.

The first official look at the film was revealed on Blumhouse’s official Instagram on April 5, 2023.

Related:Blumhouse Horror ‘Night Swim’s Release Date Moved Up

Who Made Five Nights at Freddy’s?

Five Nights at Freddy’s is directed by Emma Tammi (The Wind) and is written by Tammi, Scott Cawthon, and Seth Cuddeback (Mateo). Producers include Jason Blum, Cawthon, Russell Binder (Creepshow), Beatriz Sequeira (The Amazing Spider-Man), and Christopher H. Warner (who collaborated with Blum on Halloween Ends). Lyn Moncrief (Vengeance) serves as the movie’s cinematographer. Production companies include Blumhouse Productions and Striker Entertainment, with Universal Pictures serving as the movie’s distributor.