‘Five Nights at Freddy’s 2’ Opening to Massive No. 1 $56M+

SATURDAY AM: Blumhouse-Atomic Monster has their second No. 1 opening movie of the year with Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, which is now lighting up to a massive $56.5M opening after a $29.8M Friday/previews. Blumhouse-Atomic Monster also owns the top two horror openings of the year (yes, they do) with Conjuring: Last Rites ($84M) and now Freddy’s 2.

Again, far and away, this is the best opening that the first frame of December has ever seen. Together with the second weekend of Zootopia 2 ($45M), and the third weekend of Wicked: For Good ($15.6M), the entire historically sluggish frame is fueling to a record $148.6M, which bests last year’s high for the frame of $137M+.

Freddy’s 2 gets a B CinemaScore to the first movie’s A-. However, definite recommend is much higher on Screen Engine/Comscore’s PostTrak at 70%, that’s more than the first Freddy’s, which notched a 61% definite recommend. Sixty-one percent said they’d tell their friends to see the sequel in a theater. Four stars and 80% positive also for the Emma Tammi directed sequel. Freddy’s 2, like the first, is written by the video game’s architect, Scott Cawthon.

At a time when exhibition is fearful over Netflix’s pending marriage to Warner Bros, and there are concerns about the streamer decimating the theatrical window, along comes a movie during a notoriously down weekend and blows everyone away. People do like to see movies in theaters. Not everybody likes to stay at home. Yes, the sequel is down from the first film’s $80M opening (which also had a day-and-date on Peacock), but that was to be expected that Part 2 to a PG-13 horror film would log a lower start. Universal has long preached pre-Covid that moviegoing is a 52-weekend business. That theory got knocked post Covid and strikes, but has proved its worth once again. There isn’t one Christmas party or mall trip that’s getting in the way of the 18-24 demo who are showing up at a massive 46% to Five Nights at Freddy’s 2.

Big group outing here for moviegoers with those attending taking anywhere from one to five friends at 54% and a big West Coast play, even though business is great in the rest of the country. There are a lot of walk-ups; that’s the only way to transcend those $40M projections going into the weekend with 46% of the moviegoers buying their tickets same day on Friday. Though Freddy’s 2 has no Imax, they have PLFs which are driving 20% of the weekend. The AMC Burbank is the leading single-location gross at $64K. Diversity demos are 42% Caucasian, a great 35% among Latino and Hispanic moviegoers, 11% Black and 5% Asian American. Male to female is 55% to 45%. Under 25 is an awesome 74% (not far from the first chapter’s 80%), which is a turnout we rarely see for that demo on a live-action PG-13 title.

RelishMix says the social media universe for Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 across TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and X was at a huge 843 million before opening, 72% higher than the first Freddy’s and higher than a slew of horror movies’ social media universes YTD, i.e. Final Destination: Bloodlines (353.3M), Black Phone 2 (335.4M) and 28 Years Later (225.5M). The cast on Freddy’s 2 are completely social and fully activated with Josh Hutcherson at 13.8M fans, Matthew Lillard at 5.4M and Elizabeth Lail at 1.7M.

Reports RelishMix, “Convo runs positive for Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 as it’s now a full-blown cultural fandom rave. Every new drop pulls in a chorus of ‘Let’s go!’ The nostalgia crowd is locked in, fans screaming, ‘Toy Chica is gonna get the most kills,’ and ‘Mangle looks so damn good!’ Others flex deep-lore fluency with commentary like, ‘What’s Afton up to this time?’ and ‘Hope the end credits play “It’s Been So Long.”‘ The tone is electric — equal parts meta-comedy and fan service hunger. Fans thread the needle: ‘The handheld scenes look like actual VHS tapes,’ calling out the found-footage aesthetic that nails the game’s eerie roots. Even critics of accuracy admit the glow-up — this sequel is a fandom reunion wrapped in animatronic chaos and Blumhouse polish, and everyone’s chanting ‘We are FNAF.’”

The first Freddy’s cost a net $20M before P&A and went on to clear a $161M profit. Expect this one, which was also shot in New Orleans on tax credits, to also be in the black despite a slightly higher budget (though still low by today’s studio measures) at $36M before P&A.

It will be interesting to see how this Freddy’s plays out. The last one was frontloaded (-76% in weekend 2) given its availability on Peacock. We didn’t have any strong counter-programming over Thanksgiving given the lack of Gladiator II. Now, we have it here in December with Freddy’s 2.

Speaking of counter-programming, Gkids is bringing it this weekend with the opening of Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution with $4.9M yesterday and a near $10M take for the weekend. There’s no Rotten Tomatoes or CinemaScore, but PostTrak shows a pretty good 78% positive with a 63% definite recommend. They had a few Imax screens for previews. The anime pic is playing best in the South, South Central and West. The AMC Empire in NYC is currently the pi’s top grossing location with close to $26K.

Lionsgate’s Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair gets an A+ CinemaScore, which is higher than Kill Bill Vol. 1‘s B+ from 2003 and Kill Bill Vol. 2‘s A- from 2004. In PostTrak exits, it was equally awesome with a 94% positive, and 80% definite recommend. The Quentin Tarantino combo of Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 did $1.47M yesterday for what’s shaping up to be a $3M-$3.2M opening at 1,198 sites. No PLFs but they had 70MM prints posting big business with The Hollywood 3 in Portland ($33K), Alamo New Mission in San Francisco ($21K), The Varsity in Toronto ($16K), Coolidge Corner in Boston ($16K), Vista in LA ($13K) and the Cinemark West Plano ($7K). Very heavy guy skewing at 73%. The 25-34 set is the best demo at 32%. Over 25 is 74%.

FRIDAY PM: Don’t question the worth of theatrical, at all. A historically dead post-Thanksgiving weekend is no longer as Universal/Blumhouse-Atomic Monster’s Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is opening to a No. 1 take of $45M-$47M at 3,412 theaters. That’s a record for first frame of December. This is after a $24.5M Friday including last night’s previews.

The Post-Thanksgiving/first weekend of December’s previous opening record? The 2003 Tom Cruise movie The Last Samurai, which debuted to $24.2M. The Freddy’s 2 cash also beats the No. 1 haul of Frozen 2 in the 2019 post-Turkey period, which was $35.1M in that pic’s third frame.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is prevailing over the second weekend of Disney’s Zootopia 2, which is eyeing $10M today, for around $45M for the weekend at 4,000 locations, -55%. Note many currently see Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 winning the frame. Running cume for the Disney Animation title will be $222.4M by EOD Sunday.

RELATED: ‘Zootopia 2’ – All The Box Office Records Broken

We told you it was going to be a rich weekend, potentially outstripping the same frame a year ago, which hit a high for the period of $137.2M thanks to the carryover success of Moana 2, Wicked and Gladiator II. Also n the mix this weekend is the third frame of Universal’s Wicked: For Good at 3,985 sites, which is seeing $4.7M today and $16.2M (-74%) over three days for a running total by Sunday of $288.1M. That’s a lower third weekend than Wicked‘s $36.4M, which will put the follow-up 11% behind the original by Sunday with a running total of $288.1M.

Gkids’s Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution at 1,833 sites is seeing an estimated $4.5M today (that includes previews), for a 3-day of $8M-$10M.

Fifth belongs to Lionsgate’s release of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair at 1,198 sites. Despite limited showtimes for the entire Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 combined, the movie looks to be doing around $1.6M+ today for an estimated 3-day around $4M.

FRIDAY AM: Universal and Blumhouse’s $36M net sequel Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is looking to bring some life to what is typically an off weekend at the post holiday Thanksgiving box office. Last night, the sequel, which has director Emma Tammi back in the director’s chair, made $7.2M, which is -30% off from the $10.3M of the first film.

That first movie based on the 2014 videogame brought out a rabid fanbase, and at a time when the actors strike didn’t permit any kind of cast publicity. The pic went on to post an Oppenheimer $80M opening during the final weekend of October; and that’s even with a theatrical day-and-date availability on Peacock. This time, it’s a pure theatrical release for part 2.

Previews began yesterday at 2PM in 3,000 locations. Last night’s number is above that of A Quiet Place: Day One (a June release which posted $6.8M in previews and a $52.2M opening) and under that of Venom: The Last Dance ($8.5M previews, and $51M opening). Remember, it’s post-Thanksgiving, it’s only 20 days until Christmas, and there’s a lot of shopping to be done by people, and parties to attend.

Five Nights at Freddy‘s pulled in an audience that was 80% under 25, unprecedented in this day and age, and though more male skewing than female, 57% to 43%, the concern is that the female portion of this demo may not expand over the weekend. Heading into today, the forecast for Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 was $35M-$40M+ with Disney’s second frame of Zootopia 2 set to win with $50M. The first Friday for Five Nights at Freddy’s was $39.6M, with previews repping 26% of that number. Saturday fell a big -39%, which could have been partly due to the front-loaded nature of the crowd and the fact that the movie was available on Peacock.

Gkids has Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution which did $1.6M in combined Wednesday and Thursday previews juiced by Imax shows in select markets. That’s -53% less than Crunchyroll’s $3.4M previews for Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc which went on to open to $18M.  From MAPPA and based on the Shonen Jump manga by Gege Akutami, this film combines the Shibuya Incident arc with the exclusive debut of the first two episodes from the highly anticipated Culling Game arc. The movie is playing in both subtitled and dubbed versions.

Here’s the trailer:

Top 5 for the week:

1) Zootopia 2 (Dis) 4000 theaters, Wk $118.8M/Total $177.4M/Wk 1

2) Wicked: For Good (Uni) 4,115 theaters, Wk $72.7M (-65%), Total $280.2M/Wk 2

3) Now You See Me: Now You Don’t (LG) 3,092 theaters, Wk $9.1M (-39%), Total $51.2M/Wk 3

4) Predator: Badlands (Dis) 2,750 theaters, Wk $6.1M (-40%), Total $86.4M/Wk 4

5) The Running Man (Par) 2,749 theaters, Wk $4.86M (-47%), Total $35.3M/Wk 3