“Five Nights at Freddy’s” has grossed more than $113 million in the US alone. This puts the film in 20th place on the North American annual list, which also brings with it a very special record: since ‘Scream 6’, which was previously in this position, has been overtaken, ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ is now the most successful horror film of 2023 on the US cinema charts!
Globally, “Five Nights at Freddy’s” also ranks 20th with preliminary revenue of $217 million. However, this isn’t enough for the horror record, as “The Nun II” currently sits at 17th place with almost $266 million.
This absolutely fantastic result of “Five Nights at Freddy’s” astonishes the industry. No expert had expected these cinema numbers in advance – for one simple reason:
Success despite streaming, crash due to streaming?
“Five Nights at Freddy’s” was also released on the Peacock streaming service in addition to its theatrical release in the US. So far, such parallel releases have caused massive damage to box office revenues. Many people prefer to stay at home on the couch if they have the choice. Distributors accepted this because the priority was to promote the internal streaming service. But “Five Nights at Freddy’s” now had a double whammy: the horror video game adaptation became a streaming AND theatrical hit.
The film also topped the American box office charts during its second weekend in the US – but mainly because there was no new competition. The weekend grosses of $19.4 million represent a 76% decline from the impressive opening weekend. This is a crash you rarely see. Analysts are now blaming the availability of streaming for this. Anyone who really wanted to see the movie on the big screen did so as soon as it started.
Despite “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” which cost just $20 million, is a big hit. By the way, in Germany this weekend around 100,000 people bought a cinema ticket for Emma Tammi’s film based on the horror franchise about a scary family pizzeria with deadly animatronic mascots. In total, the surprising success has already attracted 450,000 people to the cinemas in this country.