By Lindsey Bahr
It hardly mattered that "Five Nights at Freddy's" was released simultaneously in theaters and on streaming this weekend. Fans flocked to movie theaters across the country to see the scary video game adaptation on the big screen, which made $78 million to top the North American box office, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Universal Pictures bet on a day-and-date release on the weekend before Halloween, sending it to 3,675 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, while also making it available for Peacock subscribers, the subscription streaming service owned by NBCUniversal. The movie also opened in 64 markets internationally, where it's expected to gross $52.6 million, giving the film a $130.6 million global launch – the biggest of any horror released this year.
"It was an extraordinary debut," said Jim Orr, the president of domestic distribution for Universal, who praised Blumhouse, the filmmakers and the studio's marketing department for the targeted campaign.
"Our marketing department continues to be one of the great superpowers we have at Universal," he said.
Blumhouse, the company behind "Paranormal Activity," "Get Out" and recent horror hits like "M3GAN" and "The Black Phone," produced "Five Nights at Freddy's," which was directed by Emma Tammi and stars Josh Hutcherson, Mary Stuart Masterson and Matthew Lillard. The popular video game series, in which a security guard has to fend off murderous animatronic characters at a run down family pizza restaurant, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, was created by Scott Cawthon and first released in 2014.
While the game's fanbase was strong, and passionate, the movie took many years to make. Producer Jason Blum said in an interview with IGN earlier this year that he was made fun of for pursuing an adaptation.
"Everyone said we could never get the movie done, including, by the way, internally in my company," Blum said. They made the film with a reported $20 million production budget.
And it paid off: "Five Nights at Freddy's" is his company's biggest opening of all time, surpassing "Halloween's" domestic and global debut. It's also Blumhouse's 19th No. 1 debut, which Orr noted is an "amazing accomplishment."
The opening weekend audience was predominately male (58%) and overwhelmingly very young, with an estimated 80% under the age of 25 and 38% between the ages of 13 and 17.
While the numbers aren't surprising for anyone who knows the game's audience, it is still notable for a generation not known for making theatrical moviegoing a priority.
"It's great to get that kind of audience in theaters," Orr said.
Audiences gave the film an A- CinemaScore, which could be promising for future weekends too.
"Five Nights at Freddy's" did not score well with critics, however. It currently has a dismal 25% on Rotten Tomatoes. AP's Mark Kennedy wrote that it "has to go down as one of the poorest films in any genre this year." But like many other horror movies, it appears to be critic-proof.
In second place, "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" is expected to cross $200 million in global grosses by the end of Sunday, having added $14.7 million domestically and $6.7 million internationally this weekend. The concert film, distributed by AMC Theatres, is in its third weekend in theaters where it is only playing from Thursday through Sunday, though there will be "special Halloween showtimes" on Tuesday at a discounted price of $13.13.
Third place went to Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon," which added $9 million in its second weekend, bringing its total domestic earnings to $40.7 million, according to Paramount. With an additional $14.1 million from international showings, the film's global total now stands at over $88 million.
Angel Studios' "After Death," a Christian documentary film about people who have had near death experiences, opened in fourth place to $5.1 million from 2,645 locations.
And "The Exorcist: Believer" rounded out the top five with $3.1 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its domestic earnings to just shy of $60 million.
Several of the fall's high-profile films also launched in very limited release this weekend, including Alexander Payne's "The Holdovers" and Sofia Coppola's "Priscilla." Both opened exclusively in New York and Los Angeles and will expand in the coming weeks.
Focus Features' "The Holdovers," starring Paul Giamatti as a curmudgeonly ancient history teacher at a New England prep school, debuted in six theaters where it earned an estimated $200,000.
Coppola's "Priscilla," about Priscilla Presley's life with Elvis, also opened on four screens in New York and Los Angeles, where it averaged $33,035 per screen. With a cumulative gross of $132,139, the A24 release starring Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi expands nationwide next weekend.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "Five Nights at Freddy's," $78 million.
2. "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour," $14.7 million.
3. "Killers of the Flower Moon," $9 million.
4. "After Death," $5.1 million.
5. "The Exorcist: Believer," $3.1 million.
6. "Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie," $2.2 million.
7. "Freelance," $2.1 million.
8. "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (re-release), $2 million.
9. "Saw X," $1.7 million.
10. "The Creator," $1 million.
Lindsey Bahr is an AP film writer
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More