Five Nights at Freddy's, Universal and Blumhouse's horror video game adaptation, slayed multiple box office records with its $78 million domestic opening and a further $52 million internationally for a global start of $130 million.
As reported by Variety, the ticket sales are especially impressive because the funhouse flick made its theatrical debut alongside a same-day release on Peacock, bearing down on the likes of Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends to score the biggest domestic opening weekend of all time for Universal and Peacock's hybrid releases.
Worldwide, Halloween Kills earned $133 million at the box office, while Halloween Ends pulled in $104 million across its theatrical run. However, in just three days, Five Nights at Freddy's has already smashed one of these totals and is hot on the heels of the other, making it the highest-grossing Blumhouse global opening ever.
"It's so fun when it works. Thank you all so much for being patient with us on [Five Nights at Freddy's]. We wanted to get it just right for the fans. That's all we were focused on," Blumhouse founder Jason Blum wrote on X/Twitter in light of its box office success. "And it's official. Biggest Blumhouse opening movie of all time."
It’s so fun when it works. Thank you all so much for being patient with us on #fnaf we wanted to get it just right for the fans. That’s all we were focused on. We appreciate you. Thank you for the amazing week end.
— Jason Blum (@jason_blum) October 29, 2023
And it’s official. We did something else. Biggest Blumhouse opening movie of all time. Thank you again #FNAF fans.
— Jason Blum (@jason_blum) October 29, 2023
In addition, Five Nights at Freddy's stands as the biggest horror debut of the year globally and at the domestic box office, where it ranks ahead of Scream 6 ($44.4m) and The Nun 2 ($32m). It also had the second-largest opening weekend for a video game adaptation, behind The Super Mario Bros. Movie's $146.3 million haul.
This weekend's box office pushed Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon to third place with $9 million for a domestic tally of $40.6 million and $88 million globally, behind Five Nights at Freddy's and Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, which added $14.7 million to bring its domestic figure to $149.3 million and global to $203 million.
While Five Nights at Freddy's initially gained a negative response from critics, with IGN's own review calling it an "animatronic monstrosity", the enthusiastic response it received from audiences combined with its solid box office results could propel the franchise through a slew of sequels, following on from its perfect twist ending.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X @AdeleAnkers.
