Five Nights at Freddy's is coming to the big screen

This time last year Five Nights at Freddy's didn't exist. Now the series has spawned three instalments, made creator Scott Cawthon famous, and will now get a film treatment, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Warner Bros. Pictures has picked up the rights for a film adaptation and three producers have been confirmed, with Run All Night, The Ring and The Grudge among their credentials.

The film is currently out to writers, but they won't have to look far: the Five Nights at Freddy's fanfic community is staggeringly prolific, and so are the hordes of cloners looking to cash in on the unexpected success. Our own Omri Petite enjoyed the original, calling it "a simple design that's devilishly clever at messing with you".

It'll be interesting to see how Hollywood interprets a setting which draws much of its creepiness from lo-fi production values. Cawthon sounds confident though.

"The story really lends itself to being a movie and it taps into a largely unexplored niche of horror that a lot of people will be able to relate to," he told Hollywood Reporter.

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.