It must be said that this trickster Jason Blum leads his boat masterfully; professional in highly profitable horror films and franchise relaunch, he has worked, through his production company, on Halloween (2018), American Nightmare, get-out Or MEG3Nwith a revival of The Exorcist in the boxes for October 13, 2023. A heterogeneous catalog, but rather encouraging.
At the realization of FNAFwe find Emma Tammi, a former documentary filmmaker converted to horror for a few years (Cursed Land, Into the Dark: Blood Moon). His work was lukewarmly received by critics. Anyway, the plot is led by Scott Cawthorn, creator of the saga, who vouches for the lore convoluted and the respect of its perplexing convolutions, sources of hundreds of theories.
The antagonist William Afton, serial child killer, founder of the famous pizzeria Five Nights and enigmatic “Purple Guy”, will be camped by the excellent Matthew Lillard (Scream, Scooby Doo). Josh Hutcherson (Peeta in The Hunger Games) will give him the reply in the role of Michael Afton, his son, who has come to work as a night watchman in his father’s pizzeria. As in the first game, he will have to survive five long nights against murderous animatronic mascots. The puppets are built by the Jim Henson workshop, known for The Muppets.
Blumhouse expands
So far, the development of the film FNAF stalled, reportedly due to script disputes. In preparation since 2015, the adaptation had found a conductor in the person of Chris Colombus (Mom I missed the plane !, Harry Potter at the Sorcerer’s Stone), who unfortunately fled the project in 2021.
Five Nights at Freddy’s is part of a policy of expansion of Blumhouse, which, after having honed in on remakes and sequels of all kinds, is now tackling video game adaptations. Indeed, the company is developing a film Dead by Daylight in parallel.
Ironically, FNAF won’t exactly be the first film of its kind to hit our screens. In effect, Willy’s Wonderland, released in 2021, already followed Nicolas Cage in the shoes of an amusement park attendant struggling with mascots not unlike Scott Cawthorn’s franchise. Once again, between homage and plagiarism, there is only one step. Willy’s Wonderland more or less flopped with audiences and disavowed by critics. To the original, now to impose its groove on October 27, 2023.