Five Nights at Freddy’s has proven a stellar success at the box office, falling just short of Mario and claiming the title of second-biggest video game adaptation. It’s also the biggest horror movie release in 2023, and all this despite having also been released digitally on Peacock.
At the time of writing, Five Nights at Freddy’s has grossed just over $80 million domestically and over $132 million globally. According to Variety on Oct. 29, the movie has broken several records already and is on the path to beating horror industry giant Halloween to become the biggest hybrid release. The movie is based on Scott Cawthon’s infamous horror game franchise that has gained a massive cult following in the past several years.
The movie stars Josh Hutcherson, known for his role as Peeta Mellark in The Hunger Games franchise.
Though declared a success at the box office, the movie has been plagued with poor reviews from critics. Only 29 percent of critics gave the film a favorable review on Rotten Tomatoes, severely contrasted by the audience’s score, which sits comfortably at 89 percent. Its IMDB score, which combines both critics’ and audience’s scores, is 5.6 out of 10.
Whereas the critics call the film boring, tedious, and unimpressive, fans have praised the movie’s accuracy in portraying the games.
Five Nights at Freddy’s success is the second top-grossing video game adaptation in 2023 after Mario. The latter is the highest-grossing video game adaptation of all time and has faced universal praise from critics and fans. These two movies may perhaps be heralding the era of genuinely good video game adaptations after decades of poorly managed projects that created the stigma surrounding game-to-movie endeavors.
Hopefully, the gaming world will continue its successful ventures into the film industry, which may prompt major industry players to try their luck on the big screen.
Published: Oct 31, 2023 01:12 am