‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ craters harder than ‘Morbius’ at the box office, but it’ll still easily win one of the year’s worst weekends

You might be able to state the case for its day-and-date release in theaters and on Peacock being the main reason why, but it’s nonetheless beginning to appear as if Five Nights at Freddy’s securing a status as a cultural phenomenon is only destined to last for a week.

While Universal and Blumhouse aren’t going to be losing any sleep over it seeing as the worst-reviewed video game adaptation in seven years shattered countless box office records on its way to a mammoth global opening weekend of $130 million – with its running total standing at $154 million heading into its sophomore frame – that doesn’t mean it isn’t facing a disastrous drop.

Currently in a state of free-fall, Five Nights at Freddy’s is on course to easily win the weekend with a tally of around $18 million, which is at least 78 percent off from last weekend. By comparison, the much-maligned Morbius still only managed to see its ticket sales fall by 74 percent in the same time period – proving the fan favorite critical catastrophe is about as front-loaded as they come.

Denis Villenueve’s Dune: Part Two was supposed to crash into multiplexes, too, and its absence is most definitely being felt. As it stands, on the high end of projections the domestic Top 10 is in line to combine for less than $54 million, which would make it the third lowest-grossing weekend of 2023 so far.

On the plus side, The Marvels is lurking just around the corner, but even that’s far from a guaranteed hit.