A film based on the insanely popular series of games, Five Nights at Freddy's, is being developed by the filmmaker who previously worked on movies like Home Alone and three of the Harry Potter films, Chris Columbus. You may also know him from his work on the Gremlins movie.
For the uninitiated, Five Nights at Freddy's is a game about managing a children's theme restaurant called Freddy Fazbear's Pizzarea. You're the night watchman and you have to keep a look at out at night, but the establishment's animatronic puppets have minds of their own and like to get a little murderous when the lights go off. Gameplay wise it's pretty basic, involving the watching of security cameras, opening and closing doors, managing battery life etc. You just have to stay alive.
Mr. Columbus, are you ready for Freddy? #FiveNightsatFreddys pic.twitter.com/4F7QEnw16x
— Blumhouse (@blumhouse) February 12, 2018
It's a jump-scare-athon with difficult, but simple gameplay that captured the public's imagination for a couple of years thanks to a combination of Youtuber Let's Players adopting it for its quick and easy scares and the rapid pace that the developer, Scott Cawthon released the games -- almost every six months.
All of that sounds like it will translate rather well into a trashy modern horror movie, but with Chris Columbus at the helm, there's always the chance it will turn into something rather great -- especially if it's done in a kids' horror movie style, as the games did attract a large young audience thanks to their Youtuber-boosted fame.
Although the film was originally announced back in 2015, as PCGamer points out, with the director now chosen, work can properly begin. We wouldn't expect to see anything before the tail-end of 2019 though.