Five nights at Freddy’s powered through the competition in its box office debut, raking in $78 million in North America and $130 million worldwide.
Those numbers are even more impressive because the supernatural horror film, which is based on the video game franchise of the same name, was released simultaneously in theaters and on the Peacock streaming service.
Box office analysts believe its PG-13 rating and an excellent Halloween release date also helped send it to the number one spot this weekend.
Showing how important Five Nights At Freddy’s initial three-day box office gross is, the film has already surpassed 2022’s Halloween Ends ($104 million), and will soon surpass 2021’s Halloween Kills ($133 million), according to Variety.
These two slasher films, which had the benefit of being part of a proven film franchise, were previously ranked as Universal and Peacock’s biggest hybrid releases.
Number One: Five Nights At Freddy’s, starring Josh Hutcherson and Piper Rubio, broke a number of records on its way to the top at the box office this weekend
Freddy’s domestic gross of $78 million easily surpassed the runner-up, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour ($14.7 million)
Distributed by AMC Theaters and in its third weekend in theaters, the concert film has now grossed $139.5 million in North America and $46.8 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $203 million.
Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone, came in at number three with $9 million.
The epic Western crime drama film has now been in theaters for just over a week and has grossed $84.7 million worldwide.
In fourth place is After Death with $5 million in its debut weekend.
The Christian documentary film chronicles the stories of several survivors of near-death experiences, and analyzes these events by authors and scientists trying to determine what happens after we die.
The Exorcist: Believer rounds out the Top 5 at the Box Office with $3.1 million.
David Gordon Green’s supernatural horror film has now grossed $120.4 million since its October 6 release.
The sixth installment in The Exorcist franchise is a sequel to the iconic classic The Exorcist (1973), starring a cast including Leslie Odom Jr., Lidya Jewett, Olivia O’Neill, Jennifer Nettles, Norbert Leo Butz, Ann Dowd and Ellen Burstyn.
Killing the Competition: Five Nights At Freddy’s blasted its way through the competition in its box office debut, grossing $78 million in North America and $130 million worldwide
Powerful Debut: Showing just how significant Five Nights At Freddy’s initial three-day box-office take is, the film has already surpassed 2022’s Halloween Ends ($104 million), and will soon surpass 2021’s Halloween Kills ($133 million).
According to Universal, Five Nights At Freddy’s set a number of box office records during its opening weekend, including the biggest opening weekend of the year for a horror film, overtaking Scream VI ($44 million); the highest-grossing opening weekend for a Halloween weekend release, surpassing 2011’s Puss in Boots ($34 million); and the top debut for the PG-13 horror film, surpassing 2001’s The Mummy Returns ($68 million).
Created by Scott Cawthon and directed by Emma Tammi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Cawthon and Seth Cuddeback, the film follows Mike (Josh Hutcherson), a “troubled young man who cares for his 10-year-old sister Abby (Piper Rubio). , and haunted by the unsolved disappearance of his younger brother more than a decade earlier,” said the movie website.
Desperate for work so he can retain custody of Abby, Mike agrees to take a job as a night security guard at an abandoned theme restaurant, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria.
Distant runner-up: Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour ($14.7 million) came in second at the box office this weekend; now in its third weekend, the concert film has now grossed $139.5 million in North America and $46.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $203 million since then
But it doesn’t take long before Mike discovers that nothing is as it seems at Freddy’s.
With the help of Vanessa, a local police officer (Elizabeth Lail), Mike’s nights at Freddy’s “led him to inexplicable encounters with the supernatural and dragged him into the black heart of an unspeakable nightmare.”
Along with Hutcherson, Rubio and Lail, the cast includes Mary Stuart Masterson, Matthew Lillard, Kat Conner Sterling, David Lind, Christian Stokes, Joseph Poliquin, Grant Feely, Asher Colton Spence, David Houston Doty, Liam Hendrix, Jophielle Love, Tadasay Young Michael P. Sullivan, Lucas Grant and Theodus Crane, among others.
Internationally, Freddy’s is now the second-biggest horror opening, behind The Nun II ($52.7 million); while it had the biggest horror opening of 2023 worldwide, ahead of The Nun II ($88.1 million).