Five Nights at Freddy’s Must Ditch an Unnecessary Horror Release Trend

The Five Nights at Freddy’s movie adaptation has been long awaited, but it’s finally set to release in 2023. Based on the popular survival horror video games, the movie is sure to be a massive hit with fans of the source material and horror in general. It also comes out in an era where horror films have done increasingly well, though this may make one of its release methods unnecessary.

Five Nights at Freddy’s will be released on Peacock at the same time it comes out in theaters. This is a holdover of the pandemic era of movie releases, and it doesn’t quite make much sense anymore. Worst of all, it could see the movie’s box office profit go from a killing to mere maiming, impeding the franchise on the big screen.

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The Five Nights at Freddy’s Movie Is Set to Scare up a Major Box Office Haul

As mentioned, Five Nights at Freddy’s is one of the most popular video game franchises of the past decade, with the series becoming one of the biggest indie game properties ever. Due to this acclaim, many fans were ecstatic when a movie adaptation was announced in 2015, even if this Warner Bros. production would never see the light of day. Heading to horror movie mainstay Blumhouse, script revisions delayed it further once principal photography started. Now, it’s finally poised to hit the big screen at a time when both video game adaptations and horror movies are scoring some major successes at the box office.

In the case of the former, many are already suspecting that the success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie will create a deluge of similarly accurate video game-based movies. With Five Nights at Freddy’s, the concept is much easier to turn into a live-action film, which is part of why it’s been so heavily awaited. Likewise, horror movies have seen a resurgence in popularity since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with audiences returning to theaters in droves for a good thrill. Notable hits include the Pearl movies, the slasher classic Halloween and the similar animatronic horror/comedy M3GAN. And given its ingrained audience, Five Nights at Freddy’s could easily decimate these films’ financial gains and set new records, though that plan may be hampered by its planned dual release.

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Five Nights at Freddy’s Will Be Hurt at the Box Office

Since the pandemic, several movies have had simultaneous dual releases on streaming platforms and theaters. This was especially the case with horror films, as Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends could be watched at home for those with the paid version of Peacock. Given that this streaming service’s lowest paid tier is $4.99, it was much more economical to subscribe and watch these films at home than to go to the theaters and see them. To be fair, it was a logical choice during the height of the pandemic, with some moviegoers still wary of large crowds in contained spaces. With Five Nights at Freddy’s releasing at a time in which these fears have largely subsided, however, the same-day method of viewing might be an irrelevant impediment.

Audiences have shown that they’re more than willing to jam theaters tight, with Avatar: The Way of Water making pandemic concerns a thing of the past. Thus, there’s really no reason for releasing Five Nights at Freddy’s in this way, as those who wish to see it will probably want the scariest venue possible. If anything, this would only hamper the movie’s box office haul, as getting Peacock is again a more economical choice, even for those who would otherwise have no concerns about going to the theater. The same goes for Universal’s somewhat short theatrical windows, which have the possibility of cutting a movie’s theatrical revenue off at the knees.

With how much potential Five Nights at Freddy’s has, Universal should give it the best chance at ruling Halloween by making the thrill ride only available in theaters throughout the final months of 2023. This would be a good way of gauging how necessary the dual-release method is for future films and ensuring that the movie makes more than enough to guarantee its planned sequels.

Five Nights at Freddy’s premieres in theaters and on Peacock on Oct. 27.