By MARCUS PALMERIN

On Aug. 8, 2014, upcoming video game creator Scott Cawthon created the first “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” unaware of the fame he would soon claim. FNAF is a horror game where you guard the Five Nights at Freddy’s Pizzeria as a security guard while trying to survive killer animatronics. There are nine games in the main series, four spin-off games, over 30 books, merchandise of all kinds, as well as hundreds of fan-made games. Scott Cawthon recently teased the release of the second VR game in the series expected to release late this year. 

On Oct. 27, 2023 just a few days before Halloween and nearly 10 years after the creation of the first game, the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” movie was released. It was produced and co-written by Scott Cawthon and Blumhouse Productions. The movie earned “ $78 million to top the North American box office”  and is expected to have a “$130.6 million global launch”, according to USA Today. In less than a month the FNAF movie became the highest-grossing horror movie released this year, topping “Scream VI” which has a gross income of 108 million. Largely the movie made so much profit because the budget for the movie was only $20 million while competing horror movies such as “Scream VI” had a budget of over 30 million. 

According to IMDB, the movie also only had eight locations that all resided in Louisiana, which saved money on traveling. Another reason why the movie had such a cheap budget compared to other horror movies is that the directors relied on mostly child actors and Youtubers, with few famous actors.

The two most well-known actors were John Hutcherson, who played the protagonist Micahel in the film, and the antagonist Matthew Lillard, who played the antagonist William Afton. John Hutcherson is a renowned actor who is most famous for his role as Peeta in “The Hunger Games,” and his role as Josh in the television series “Future Man.” Matthew Lillard is most known for his role as Stu in the first “Scream” movie as well as his role as Shaggy in the live-action “Scooby-Doo” movies.  

Although only two YouTubers appeared in the movie, the usage of YouTubers was a good financial choice as they would be paid less than famous actors. Matpat appeared momentarily in the movie as a waiter and fans online were extremely excited about his appearance. Matpat is most known for his YouTube channel “The Game Theorists” where he developed most of his fame in the early 2000s making theories on FNAF lore. Because Matpat brought FNAF a lot of fame through his hundreds of videos on YouTube, fans expressed their appreciation for his appearance online. The other YouTuber who appeared in the FNAF movie was CoryxKenshin, however, unlike Matpat, he appeared in his minor role as a taxi driver twice. CoryxKenshin has also been a long-term fan of FNAF and has posted hundreds of videos in the past several years. Both Youtubers were extremely eager to be in the movie and thus the movie saved money as both actors eagerly worked for a cheaper price than most renowned actors would have.

Matpat and CoryxKenshin both brought fame to FNAF and thus their appearances in the movie were a financially wise decision. However, the movie not including Youtuber Markiplier lost support from fans and thus revenue as well. Markiplier is also known largely as the “King of FNAF” and brought the franchise lots of fame through his YouTube videos promoting the series over the past ten years. Markiplier addressed in his stream of “Fazbear Frights” on YouTube that he was unable to make an appearance due to a scheduling conflict as he is working on his film. However, he expressed his ultimate want to be in the next FNAF movie should there be a sequel.

According to the Insider, Markiplier was supposed to play the role of the night guard who was killed at the beginning of the film. This reveals that Scott and Markiplier both were in agreement to have Mark play in the film, but these plans were unfortunately canceled. Thus it can be safely assumed that Markiplier will be in the second movie should there be one, with a potentially bigger role than being killed off in the first five minutes of the movie. 

Scott Cawthon said in a Steam community forum post in 2018 that “if the first films were successful, two more films would be made based on the second and third game.” He also announced online recently that he signed a three-movie contract with Blumhouse. The first movie left viewers with unanswered questions and content creators who were unable to make an appearance. The movie also made a significant profit with the highest gross income with the lowest budget of all horror movies created this year, thus it can be safely assumed that a second movie will be made.

Scott Cawthon started as a poor game maker who slowly made his way to fame and movies through his work making over a dozen games and books. Through his work, he has made a franchise and earned support from hundreds of content creators across many platforms. This year he has made the highest-grossing horror film that surpassed classic horror series such as “Scream.” With his three-series contract with Blumhouse, one can only guess how far Cawthon is willing to take his series. 

Featured image: Digital artwork of a character from the film “Five Nights at Freddy’s.” The “Five Nights at Freddy’s” movie features the classic animatronics from the original game. (Artwork courtesy of Mia Altenbach)