With Christmas lights twinkling, trees adorned in their festive finery, and the spirit of the season in the air, the possessed animatronics from the beloved horror series "Five Nights at Freddy's" are once again stirring. The sequel to the 2023 hit film, based on the popular video game of the same name, defies the usual spooky season release schedule by debuting right before Christmas.
At the LA premiere, star Josh Hutcherson joked to The Hollywood Reporter, "It's basically like The Santa Clause." He added, with a hint of mischief, "A little counterprogramming is always fun. I'm not a big fan of Christmas myself, so if I were going to the theater, I'd rather watch a horror movie than a Christmas movie." Co-star Matthew Lillard chimed in, noting how "Christmas is reserved for big films" and "Five Nights at Freddy's" falls into that category after the success of the first film.
Lillard further pointed out that "I don't think everyone in Hollywood fully understands the power and capacity of this fanbase. We went day-and-date [in theaters and on Peacock] and still did really well," without much promotion in 2023. Now, with a "bigger launch," they hope to "equal fantastic box office numbers and hopefully quickly greenlight a third film."
Director Emma Tammi confirmed that a third film is indeed the goal, saying, "We're hopeful that we'll be able to keep going for a trilogy, but it really depends on how everyone responds to this one and if there's a demand for it. We're here for it if the fans are."
The fans' vocal demand was for the sequel to "go darker," with more jump-scares. Tammi emphasized, "We've really amped it up in this one." Hutcherson added, "I think it's a little dangerous sometimes looking for feedback from an audience to then make a sequel, but in this case the feedback was great. It was about making it scarier. The first one, I liked the movie but I think it wasn't as scary as it could have been; we heard that and we agreed, so we stepped up the scariness in this second one."
"Five Nights at Freddy's 2" hits theaters on Friday, ready to send chills down spines and ignite the holiday spirit all at once.
