Deadline’s most valuable blockbuster tournament is back. While studios enthusiastically embraced the day-and-date model of cinema during the Corona crisis when theaters were closed, they soon realized that there is nothing more profitable than a theatrical release and the downstreams that come with it. If anything, cinema is the advertisement of a film’s longevity in later home entertainment windows. In 2023, streamers like Apple joined the discussion, who also recognized the need for theater to eventize their films. The financial data compiled here for Deadline’s most valuable blockbuster tournament is selected from experienced and trustworthy sources.
THE FILM
Five nights at Freddy’s
Universal/Blumhouse
At the box office in the fall, with its tentpole lineup destroyed by the strike, Universal defied the odds with a theatrical day-and-date on Peacock for its 2014 feature film version of the video game Five nights at Freddy’s. The horror film gave producer Blumhouse its biggest opening of all time in the US with $80 million – a figure comparable to Uni’s ultimate Best Picture Oscar winner and summer blockbuster Oppenheimer – and a global total debut of $131 million. No one saw this coming, not even the studio, although some tracking organizations had a hunch: Quorum, for example, predicted a $50 million US-Canada opening six weeks in advance.
The problem is that tracking can never determine the day and date of publications. Projection services discovered a $50 million asking price for Universal/Peacock’s day-and-date picture Halloween ends, and the film under-delivered with a $40 million opening. No doubt Day-and-Date is a box office drain, but Five nights at Freddy’s is the exception that proved the rule and an anomaly that may never be repeated. Deadline hears that those close to the film asked Universal to make this film purely theatrical and produced it instead The Exorcist: The Believer Day-and-Date on Peacock, but the studio stood firm, knowing it could win both theatrically and on the OTT service Five nights was the most-watched title of all time on the streamer.
Five nights at Freddy’s“s,” about a security guard trapped in a Chuck E. Cheese-like pizza video game parlor where the animatronic animal characters awaken in the middle of the night on a murderous rampage, originally starred on Warner Bros. with Roy Lee, David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith produced, Gil Kenan directed and co-wrote. The film based on the Scott Cawthon game never got off the ground, and when the option came up in 2017, Jason Blum stepped in. Blum repeatedly tweeted about the project, which began in February 2018 Harry Potter When filmmaker Chris Columbus joined (he eventually stepped down and Emma Tammi took over as director), fans would go crazy.
When it came to releasing marketing materials, it was important for Universal to make it authentic, right down to the eyeliner used by the game’s animatronic animal characters Foxy, Bonnie, Freddy, Cupcake and Chica – finally just details a Freddy’s Fan would take care of it. Heck, how many times have you seen the creator of a video game, in this case Cawthon, also be the writer of the cinematic version? For the Faithful, this was a gospel move by a major studio. Overall, the reach of the social media universe was nearly half a billion, per RelishMix, 2.3 times more than the pre-opening horror franchise competition.
THE BOX SCORE
THE CONCLUSION
Despite the success of the day-and-date cinema, money remained on the table – even though 23% of cinemagoers watched FreddyAccording to Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak, Peacock was in theaters its opening weekend. Keep in mind that the film didn’t have Imax on its opening weekend; Industry sources tell us there may be $5 million to $10 million missing. The film’s initial $25 million in domestic advance tickets suggested an opening price of $100 million. The trade-off for Uni here, however, remained an uptick in Peacock submarines. As for finances, the $100 million for TV and streaming includes the cost that Uni itself paid to release the film on Peacock. The talent was paid bonuses in advance, but there was also a clause in their contracts that if the film overperformed there would be some lagniappe (evident in stakes worth $25 million). By all accounts, net income is an excellent $161 million.