A movie version of Five Nights at Freddy‘s has been on the cards for at least five years, but the project has primarily been stuck in development hell during this time. Blumhouse are working on making the film a reality, though, and gave an update earlier this year that things are moving forward, albeit slowly.
Jason Blum has now followed that up with a comment on progress on Five Nights at Freddy‘s, and has admitted that they’re still figuring out how to make the project work. He recently spoke to Inverse about how things are going with the picture, and had this to say:
“It’s still active. We haven’t quite figured it out, but we’re getting closer every day. The story is the big challenge. You know, Five Nights at Freddy’s should have been easier because there are books, there’s a lot of lore and storytelling. For a video game, I think it has more storytelling than almost any other. But still, the story goes down so many rabbit holes. It goes down so many different directions. It’s big. Choosing which part to tell the first time out of the gate — and how to tell it — has been tricky.”
These comments make sense when you consider the logistics of pulling off Five Nights at Freddy‘s as a horrific experience, rather than something that could end up being jokey or camp. As Blum acknowledges, there’s a deep bench of mythology around the series, which primarily takes place inside a single room as a restaurant security guard has to deal with animatronic creatures that come alive at night.
On paper, it seems that someone could produce a straightforward horror story from this material, but it appears that Blumhouse’s biggest challenge is bringing in all the other elements from the franchise that fans might expect to see. Of course, a barebones take on the first game from the property would also work, but knowing the studio, they likely want to spin this out into sequels and prequels, necessitating more care taken at the worldbuilding stage.
So far, we know that Chris Columbus is attached to direct, although this has been the case since 2018, and that game creator Scott Cawthon had a go at a screenplay that was apparently discarded. We’d hope, then, that Blumhouse can provide a more concrete update on the production in 2021, as presumably their option has an expiry date. For now, we’ll have to be happy with the pretty excellent fan-made trailer for Five Nights at Freddy‘s, and the upcoming Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach for the PS4, PS5 and PC.