Five Nights at Freddy’s breaks Blumhouse box office record

Chris Tilly
The animatronics in Five Nights at Freddy's.

Five Nights at Freddy’s is already the most successful horror movies of the year, and over the weekend, it broke a big record for production company Blumhouse.

Based on the video game of the same name, Five Nights at Freddy’s took years to transfer onto the big screen, with Jason Blum producing through the company that bears his name, alongside Universal Pictures.

The movie launched in cinemas and on Uni’s streaming service Peacock on the same day, and you can read what we thought of it here.

In spite of that dual release, FNaF has been little short of a box office phenomenon, with full details of the money made below…

Five Nights at Freddy’s breaks Blumhouse box office record

Five Nights at Freddy’s is now Blumhouse’s biggest movie ever. Jason Blum posted that momentous fact on Twitter/X, thanking those who made the movie for those huge returns.

The movie Five Nights at Freddy’s blasted past for that pole position is M. Night Shyamalan’s Split, which made $278 million worldwide, compared to FNaF’s running total of $283 million.

Previous box office story follows:

As of writing, Five Nights at Freddy’s has earned more than $116 million domestically and nearly $221 million worldwide. It has passed the box office milestone of $100 million, and maintains its No. 1 spot in the US. However, its second weekend saw a major drop of 78%, earning only $17.78 million domestically.

Five Nights at Freddy’s grossed $78 million domestically over its first weekend, giving it the biggest opening weekend for a horror movie in 2023, easily surpassing Scream VI ($44 million), and The Nun II ($32 million).

That’s also the second biggest opening weekend for a video game adaptation, behind The Super Mario Bros Movie ($146 million). And the second biggest opening weekend for a day-and-date streaming release, following Black Widow (which made $80 million in theaters and $60 million on Disney+).

That number is also the best ever for a Universal and Peacock’s hybrid release, beating horror sequel Halloween Kills ($49 million).

Five Nights at Freddy’s grossed a further $52 million internationally, for a global total of $130 million. That gave it the biggest opening weekend worldwide for a horror movie in 2023, while FNaF also surpassed 2018’s Halloween ($92 million) to become Blumhouse’s biggest international opening ever.

Impressively, the movie earned $10.3 million in opening night previews. This nearly matched Nolan’s hit summer blockbuster Oppenheimer’s $10.5 million preview gross. This also makes the video game movie the third best preview night for any October movie in US domestic box office history, behind Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Joker.

According to Deadline, Five Nights at Freddy’s made $7 million via Thursday previews. Though the outlet adds that Universal couldn’t be reached for confirmation of their estimate, so take that number with a pinch of salt.

Five Nights at Freddy’s was originally “eyeing a $50 million-plus start and possibly even more,” as per Deadline. Though many exhibitors believed that was underselling the horror movie, predicting on an opening weekend that approached a whopping $85 million.

However, although the Blumhouse and Universal Pictures co-production is showing on 3,500-3,600 screens in America, the fact that it is also going pretty much day-and-date on streaming could eat into overall theatrical returns.

Either way, the FNaF total should be enough to secure a top spot at the domestic box office, by dethroning Taylor Swift and her phenomenally successful Eras Tour concert movie.

Five Nights at Freddy’s is in cinemas now. For more on the film, check out the below articles:

About The Author

Chris Tilly is the TV and Movies Editor at Dexerto. He has a BA in English Literature, an MA in Newspaper Journalism, and over the last 20 years, he's worked for the likes of Time Out, IGN, and Fandom. Chris loves Star Wars, Marvel, DC, sci-fi, and especially horror, while he knows maybe too much about Alan Partridge. You can email him here: chris.tilly@dexerto.com.