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“Five Nights at Freddy’s” has once again made a splash at the box office. The sequel opened in 3,412 theaters in the US Canada This weekend, ticket sales exceeded expectations with $63 million, according to studio estimates on Sunday.
Immune to widely negative reviews, “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” scored the biggest debut ever for the weekend after Thanksgiving, which is usually a more muted buffet of leftovers. It is the biggest opening of the year for a PG-13 rated film and the second-biggest horror opening behind “The Conjuring: Last Rites”. Movies and games about a family restaurant, Freddy Fazbear PizzaWhose anthropomorphic robots become deadly at night.
Jim Orr, head of domestic distribution, said, “There has been a lot of doom and gloom about the industry overall, but this film helped lead the industry to its biggest first weekend ever after Thanksgiving.” universal,
The first film, also a Blumhouse production, was a surprise hit two years earlier. Despite being available to stream on Peacock, it grossed $80 million in October 2023. Universal decided to open the sequel exclusively in theaters. With a reported production cost of only $36 million, “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” is on its way to making another splash. It’s another reminder of the potentially massive upside of theatrical releases as many in the industry wonder what Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros. will mean for filmmaking.
The sequel, written by the game’s creator Scott Cawthon, stars Josh Hutcherson, Matthew Lillard, and Elizabeth Lail, as well as the return of director Emma Tammy. Reviews were disappointing, worse than the first. Mark Kennedy called it an “incoherent mess” in his zero-star review for the Associated Press. But horror fans have been known to flock to opening weekends regardless of reviews. The opinion from this audience was definitely more positive. According to PostTrak polling data, 70% of ticket buyers said they would “definitely” recommend “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” to their friends.
Paul Dergarabedian, Head of Marketplace Trends comscoreThat said, the teen video gamer audience is sometimes underestimated and this weekend once again proved that when found the right movie, they will flock to the movie theater for that community experience with fellow fans.
It was also enough to push the more family-friendly “Zootopia 2” into second place in its second weekend in theaters, where it added $43 million in North America. But the Disney film isn’t hurting after its record Thanksgiving opening. With $219 million from 52 territories internationally, including China, the ongoing global total stands at $915.8 million. It has officially overtaken all Walt Disney Studios releases to gross over $5 billion globally – the only studio to do so this year.
“Wicked: For Good”, also a Universal release, finished third in its third weekend with $16.8 million from 3,985 theaters, bringing its domestic total to $297 million.
Fourth place went to GKids’ anime “Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution”, with an estimated gross of $10.2 million, while lionsgate“Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” rounded out the top five with $3.5 million, bringing its global total to $210 million.
“Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair” was close behind with $3.3 million from 1,198 theaters. Quentin Tarantino combined “Kill Bill: Volume 1” and “Volume 2” into a four-hour and 35-minute epic (including a 15-minute intermission). The Lionsgate release received a rare A+ CinemaScore from 72% of male audiences. According to the studio, most of the 70 mm and 35 mm showings were sold out. Due to the demand for film prints, the studio is exploring an extended period. “Kill Bill” star Lucy Liu spent a big weekend at New York’s AMC Lincoln Square, where independent drama “Rosemead” raked in $50,243 from one screen.
The filmed version of the Tony-winning revival of “Merrily We Roll Along,” starring Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez and released by Sony Pictures Classics, opened just outside the top 10 with $1.2 million from 1,084 screens.
The ongoing annual domestic box office surpassed $8 billion this weekend. Since the pandemic, it has exceeded $9 billion only once, in 2023, when “Barbie” topped the year. Before 2020, it will regularly reach $11 billion.
Dergarabedian said, “It’s not impossible, but every film is going to have to outperform in some way if we’re going to reach the $9 billion threshold.”
Top 10 films at domestic box office
This list takes into account estimated ticket sales at US and Canadian theaters from Friday to Sunday, with final domestic figures released on Monday, according to comScore:
1. “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2,” $63 million.
2. “Zootopia 2,” $43 million.
3. “Wicked: For Good,” $16.7 million.
4. “Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution,” $10.2 million.
5. “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t,” $3.5 million.
6. “Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair,” $3.3 million.
7. “Eternity,” $2.7 million
8. “Hamnet,” $2.3 million.
9. “Dhurandhar,” $1.9 million.
10. “Predator: Badlands,” $1.9 million.