Five Nights at Freddy's movie gets a release date only eight years after it was announced

Five Nights at Freddy's plushies
(Image credit: Scott Cawthon)

A paltry eight years after we first heard rumblings of it, we've finally gotten our first shot of the upcoming silver screen version of Five Nights at Freddy's. What's more, we've even got a release date. Blumhouse Productions announced via its Instagram page that Five Nights at Freddy's (the movie) will release in cinemas and on the Peacock streaming service on October 27 this year.

The picture gives us a first look at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, the restaurant (or chain of restaurants) in which the FNAF games take place. Standing outside, we can see the titular Mr Fazbear accompanied by a child who may or may not be Piper Rubio, who is listed as one of the film's cast members.

And that's your lot, I'm afraid. No sign of any other cast members, including once and future Shaggy Matthew Lillard, who was unveiled as the actor playing villainous Fazbear founder William Afton last December. Still, it looks like the film has managed to capture FNAF's disconcerting and sinister vibe.

It's been a long road from the first whispers of a Five Nights at Freddy's movie to today. A film version was first reported to be in the works at KatzSmith Productions in 2015, but presumably fell through. Blumhouse picked up the rights to make a movie based on the games in 2017, but delays set in after FNAF creator Scott Cawthorn decided to postpone everything until he settled on the perfect screenplay. Finally, the film lost its director—Chris Columbus—in 2021.

But it looks like production finally got going under director Emma Tammi, and it'll only be six short months before the FNAF series makes it transition to the big screen. Better late than never (or I hope so, anyway).

Joshua Wolens
News Writer

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.