Not to be outdone by Slender Man, Blumhouse is pushing full steam ahead with its live-action adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy’s, Scott Cawthon’s point-and-click video game phenomenon that first flickered into life back in 2014.
Word comes by way of Deadline, revealing that Chris Columbus (Home Alone, Harry Potter) has signed on to write, direct and produce the horror pic previously earmarked for Gil Kenan (Poltergeist).
The latter had been attached to a Five Nights at Freddy’s movie three years ago, when Warner Bros. owned rights to the multimedia franchise. Those plans quickly unraveled, though, thereby allowing Blumhouse to swoop in and acquire Cawthon’s cult series last March.
Fast forward to 2018, and Freddy Fazbear’s pizza joint – a demented, twisted version of Chuck E. Cheese’s or ShowBiz Pizza Place – is officially open for business. And it’ll be Chris Columbus calling the shots from behind the lens, with Jason Blum and Scott Cawthon expected to produce.
For the uninitiated, Five Nights At Freddy‘s tasks players with spending the night at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a fictional restaurant plagued by murderous animatronic mascots. Your goal? Survival, which typically involves managing the building’s security systems in order to keep those creepy ‘bots at bay.
It’s also a six-part indie phenomenon, one that has spawned numerous best-selling novels and a lucrative merchandise line. So the fact that Five Nights at Freddy’s has set up shop at Blumhouse, a studio known for its low-budget gems (read: Get Out, Insidious and The Purge), leaves us feeling cautiously optimistic about Chris Columbus’ adaptation.
You know, providing it can avoid the video game movie curse. More on Five Nights at Freddy’s as this project begins to coalesce.
