In the span of less than a year, Five Nights at Freddy’s, created by independent game developer Scott Cawthon, has become one of the biggest names in horror video games. The first game was released on August 8, 2014 and already has two sequels. Earlier this month, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Warner Bros. picked up the film rights to the franchise. Roy Lee, Seth Grahame-Smith, and David Katzenberg are set to produce and are looking for writers. “We’re looking forward to working with Scott to make an insane, terrifying, and weirdly adorable movie,” said Grahame-Smith.
Cawthon has quickly turned into a minor celebrity as the creator of all three Five Nights at Freddy’s games. The games follow a nightwatchman in a haunted Chuck-E-Cheese-esque pizza restaurant where the animatronic animal entertainers come to life and attack any human they encounter. Five Nights at Freddy’s quickly became a hit on YouTube, as people would film their reactions to the games’ tense atmosphere and sudden jump scares. Cawthon has promised a fourth, and final, chapter for Halloween 2015. According to Cawthon, “the story really lends itself to being a movie, and it taps into a largely unexplored niche of horror that a lot of people will be able to relate to.”
We have covered several video game-to-film adaptations currently in development, though Five Nights at Freddy’s has by far achieved the quickest rise to prominence; the franchise isn’t even a year old. Like many YouTube sensations, it may run the risk of fading from memory as the novelty wears off, especially if Cawthon is serious about ending the series with the fourth game. Warner Bros. is certainly hoping the franchise has staying power as any film adaptation is likely at least a few years away.
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