Five Nights at Freddy's movie loses its director

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Home Alone and Harry Potter director Chris Columbus is no longer working on the adaptation.

Chairs for Chris Columbus and Freddy Fazbear side by side
(Image credit: Blumhouse Productions)

Collider recently spoke to Jason Blum, CEO of Blumhouse Productions, who picked up the movie rights to Five Nights at Freddy's in 2017. On the subject of its director, previously announced to be Chris Columbus (director of the first two Home Alone movies, the first two Harry Potter movies, and Pixels), Blum said, "Chris Columbus is no longer attached."

Scott Cawthon, the creator of the Five Nights at Freddy's series of games, remains involved in the decision-making process. In 2018, when it was announced the movie was being delayed to search for the perfect screenplay, Cawthon said, "either the right movie gets made or no movie gets made."

As Blum told Collider, "I don't have the right to do anything Scott doesn't like. Basically, Scott has kind of like the equivalent of 'final cut' and it's taken longer than I hoped to get the right story." Asked whether a new director had been found, Blum replied, "That is classified information."

Cawthon is no longer working on the Five Nights at Freddy's games, having retired earlier this year after it was made public he donated significant amounts of money to conservative action committees and politicians, including Donald Trump, upsetting many fans—especially the significant number of Five Nights at Freddy's fans in the LGBTQ+ community.

Meanwhile, if you really want to watch a cheesy horror movie where animatronics come to life, Nicolas Cage and Willy's Wonderland have got you covered.

Jody Macgregor
Jody Macgregor
Weekend/AU Editor

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.