Audiences returned to Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza in force, turbocharging a traditionally sleepy post-Thanksgiving weekend at the box office.
“Five Nights at Freddy’s 2,” the second film inspired by Scott Cawthon’s popular horror game franchise, easily captured first place, opening to $63 million domestically. That topped projections that had the film debuting between $35 million and $40 million, though it does pale in comparison to the $80 million that “Five Nights at Freddy’s” launched to in 2023. What made that result all the more impressive was that the first film simultaneously debuted in theaters and on Peacock. It went on to gross nearly $300 million on a $20 million budget.
Still, “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” is an undeniable win for Universal, which released the film, and for Blumhouse-Atomic Monster, which produced the picture and really needed it to work after slogging through an uncharacteristic rough patch. Blumhouse-Atomic Monster is one of Hollywood’s biggest hitmakers, producing everything from “The Purge” movies to “Get Out,” but the company’s had a bruising 2025, releasing duds like “M3GAN 2.0,” “Wolf Man” and “Drop.” With last October’s hit, “Black Phone 2,” and now “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2,” Blumhouse-Atomic Monster seems to be turning a corner. “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” is also the latest video game adaptation to connect with audiences, joining the likes of “A Minecraft Movie” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.”
“These video game adaptations are slaying at the box office,” says Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations. “They have captured the attention of a younger generation of moviegoers like no other genre.”
“Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” was made for a lean $36 million, so it will be very profitable for the studio. Josh Hutcherson, Matthew Lillard, Elizabeth Lail and Piper Rubio return for the sequel, which follows a former pizzeria night guard who must face off against an array of animatronic killers. Emma Tammi, who directed the first film, was behind the camera for the follow-up. Internationally, “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” earned an estimated $46 million from 76 markets, including Mexico, the U.K., Australia, Brazil, Spain, Germany, Italy and France. That brings its global total to $109 million.
Disney’s “Zootopia 2,” which dominated the Thanksgiving box office, settled for second place earning a sizable $43 million. The animated sequel is already one of the year’s biggest hits, having earned $220.5 million domestically and $915.8 million globally. It should easily top $1 billion in ticket sales.
Another hit sequel, “Wicked: For Good,” captured third place with $15.6 million in its third weekend of release. That pushes its domestic gross to $295.8 million through Sunday.
Love Film & TV?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in music, film and TV in Australia and abroad.
Gkids’ “Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution,” which cuts together portions of the “Jujutsu Kaisen” anime series, debuted to an estimated $10.2 million, securing fourth place on the charts. Lionsgate’s “Now You See Me, Now You Don’t” rounded out the top five, earning $3.5 million to bring its domestic haul to $55.3 million.
On the indie front, Sony Pictures Classics released “Merrily We Roll Along,” a filmed version of the hit Broadway production of the Stephen Sondheim musical, debuted to $1.2 million on 1,084 screens. The show starred Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe and Lindsay Mendez and won the Tony for best musical revival. Bleecker Street debuted “Fackham Hall,” a parody of stiff upper lip period films, in 1,112 locations where it earned $620,909. And Focus Features’ “Hamnet” expanded from 119 theaters to 744, earning $2.3 million. The acclaimed drama about William Shakespeare has earned $4.2 million since opening over Thanksgiving. It is expected to be a major Oscars contender.
Also of note, Quentin Tarantino’s super-sized “Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair,” which combines “Kill Bill: Vol. 1” and “Vol. 2” into one, four-and-a-half-hour epic, grossed an estimated $3.2 million. Much of the attention around QT lately hasn’t been about reviving The Bride, but on the backlash his dismissal of Paul Dano as “the limpest dick in the world” has generated.
Theater owners, who have struggled through a rough fall filled with flop films, are hoping that holiday hits like “Wicked: For Good” and “Zootopia 2” along with upcoming blockbusters like “Avatar: Fire and Ash” will help them end a roller-coaster year on a high note. Overall, revenues are running roughly 1% ahead of 2024, which is a disappointment as many analysts expected this year to be more in line with pre-pandemic periods that saw ticket sales routinely top $9 billion annually.
“Every film this holiday season is going to have to punch above its weight if we’re going to get anywhere close to that benchmark,” says Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at ComScore.
Beyond a sluggish box office, movie theater operators are also facing existential questions after news broke this week that Netflix, long viewed as an enemy of the cinematic experience, has a deal to buy Warner Bros. for $82.7 million. The prospect of the streaming giant swallowing up one of the movie business’s most legendary studios has left exhibitors staring into the void.
“Netflix is taking over one of the crown jewels of Hollywood, so you have to wonder if they will keep movies in theaters in a meaningful way or will they stay true to their business model, which has nothing to do with that,” says Bock. “Netflix already killed Blockbuster. Will they kill movie theaters too?”
From Variety US