5 reasons why Five Nights at Freddy’s is a win for cinema, even though I hated it
Five nights at Freddy’s‘s exceeded all expectations with its weekend box office success and, in my opinion, represents several significant victories for the art of cinema. Still, I hated the film. So what is there?
Without having played it FNaF I was hoping that the film would be my introduction to this terrible world. However, the finished product turned out to be something that perhaps contained a jump scare that wasn’t even surprising, often cutting out from the spooky setting of the shadow-filled Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria to show a dream snoozefest sequence in broad daylight several times, as I explained in my review.
However, I will admit that the film had an artistic vision that was competently put together, but it’s just that I wasn’t particularly excited about it. I can still respect it FNaF from a distance and do not be ashamed of those who like it. After all, exactly like that The Super Mario Bros. movie Since the beginning of the year, the gaming fan base in general seems to love the film, even if the critics were enthusiastic. This is illustrated by FNaF‘s 29 percent “poor” critical rating Rotten tomatoes which is in stark contrast to its 89 percent audience rating.
More than that, the successes FNaF made me hopeful about the artistic integrity of the theater experience. While I didn’t particularly like the film, its success means that perhaps more films with similar qualities (that are actually good) will get the reception they deserve. To explain what I mean, here are the top five reasons Five nights at Freddy’s is overall a win for cinema (in no particular order), even if I didn’t like it at all.
FNaF scored the highest-grossing opening weekend for a horror film directed by a woman
As I explained in my review, Emma Tammi’s direction is commendable and it was the writing style, lack of scares and general approach that I had issues with. Still, it’s commendable that Tammi received the distinction of having the highest-grossing opening weekend for a horror film directed by a woman. I want to see more representation of women in horror films (and Hollywood in general). If FNaFSuccess may open the door to more female directors being hired to direct major films. I consider this an absolute win.
FNaFThe smaller budget proves that there is still room for diverse stories
2023 was a year in which numerous potential blockbusters failed, in part due to excessive budgets. Why did films like it? Fast X, Indiana Jones and the Dial of DestinyAnd Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One do they all have budgets of around $300 million or more? One could blame this on many things, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation, or even the high price of their stars.
Studios’ tendency to invest heavily only in older franchises with out-of-control budgets makes it harder to turn a profit and reduces diversity in storytelling. FNaF The film was made on a meager budget of $20 million, but has already grossed more than $130 million at the worldwide box office in its opening weekend. FNaF could mean that studios are becoming wiser to investing in a wider variety of film genres rather than just sticking with action franchises and superhero films (as much as we love them).
FNaF stayed true to the source material and paved the way for future success in video game films
If there is something to say something about FNaFThe success lies in the fact that the faithfulness to the source material is a win for video game fanatics. Still, even though I wasn’t thinking The Super Mario Bros. movie was a masterpiece, I still enjoyed it, critics be damned. That’s why I feel compassion FNaF Fans everywhere who enjoyed this film.
As I am a gamer myself who happens to have never played before FNaF, I absolutely revel in the idea that the film’s success will spawn more films that stay true to the game. Gone are the dark days of cinematic atrocities like the 1993 live-action film Super Mario Bros. and 1994s Double kite which bore no resemblance to the games and pleased absolutely no one. Suffice it to say whether this is all FNaF Saga resulted in a game-accurate result Metal Gear Solid As a fan, I would be very happy about that.
FNaF Avoid over-reliance on CGI
Another common thread in some of this year’s biggest box office flops is the over-reliance on CGI. Films like Dial of Destiny And The Lightning cast people as melting wax figures of their former selves, with actors like Harrison Ford and Henry Cavill getting the Uncanny Valley treatment.
Although FNaF Since it would likely have been possible to render the various animatronics in CGI, the filmmakers opted for the practical route. Thanks to the help of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, Freddy and Co. have been brought to life with real animatronics, suits and puppetry. If this kind of commitment to material authenticity could be applied to bigger-budget superhero films, the visual landscape of more fantastical stories would be much more bearable than what we’ve seen in many releases this year.
FNaFThe box office success of a same-day streaming release is proof that the exhibition format is not dead
In the first year of the pandemic, many cinemas had to close due to social distancing rules. AMC’s shares initially collapsed during this time and films like Wonder Woman 1984 And Black widow were controversially released on streaming services on the same day as theaters. Pre-pandemic fears that streaming services would soon make the theater experience obsolete threatened to become reality.
Anyway, if FNaFs Its box office success, given its same-day release on streaming platform Peacock, proves these fears are unfounded. After all, the many moviegoers who saw FNaF over the weekend could have easily watched the film at home. Even if they didn’t have a Peacock account at the time, it would have been easy and much cheaper to sign up for the streaming service’s $6 entry-level monthly plan just to watch that one movie and then cancel it. The fact that so many people chose the theater experience is a sign that the exhibition format is not going anywhere in this post-pandemic world. That’s a good thing for cinephiles, who insist that watching films on the largest possible screen is a key prerequisite to experiencing them as the filmmakers intended.
What’s more, FNaFThe success could encourage other streaming services to try to release films to theaters even though they wouldn’t otherwise. The downside to the whole “streaming is the death of cinema” argument is that companies like Netflix and others are leaving money on the table not bring their films to the cinema. Because what better advertising is there for a streaming service than a hit film they produced that dominates the box office?
FNaF is currently playing at a theater near you and streaming on Peacock.
