Movies based on video games haven’t exactly had a lot of success, but that hasn’t stopped Hollywood from continuing to bring games to the big screen. The latest project to get the green light is a proposed film based on Five Nights at Freddy’s, the critically acclaimed 2014 indie horror game about a haunted children’s restaurant.
The film rights to Five Nights at Freddy’s (and the two sequels it spawned) were picked up by Warner Bros. Pictures, which plans to develop a feature-length film based on the premise of the franchise, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The project will be co-produced by Roy Lee (The Ring), Seth Grahame-Smith (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter), and David Katzenberg (Stephen King’s IT).
The original Five Nights at Freddy’s was a single-player, point-and-click adventure created by Scott Cawthon that put the player in the role of a night security guard at a children’s “pizza entertainment” restaurant where possessed, animatronic animal characters roamed about in search of their next victim. Players are challenged to survive five nights at the fictional Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza by using security cameras to track the movements of these murderous beasts.
The game was celebrated for its blend of simplicity and immersive horror elements, and two subsequent installments of the franchise were released that expanded its mythology. The first of those, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, actually served as a prequel to the original game.
“We’re looking forward to working with Scott to make an insane, terrifying and weirdly adorable movie,” said Grahame-Smith in a statement accompanying the announcement.
The studio is currently seeking writers for the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie.
“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,” said Cawthon.
