Premiere of adaptation of the video game “Five Nights at Freddy’s” totals US$ 130 million

It didn’t matter that “Five Nights at Freddy’s” will premiere simultaneously in cinemas and in streaming this weekend. His followers rushed to theaters across the country to see the adaptation of the videogame horror movie on the big screen, which grossed US$ 78 million to top the North American box office, the studio estimated Sunday.

Universal Pictures took a gamble on the release date and time the weekend before Halloween and distributed it in 3,675 theaters in the United States and Canada, while also making it available to subscribers of Peacock, the subscription streaming service owned by from NBCUniversal. The film also opened in 64 markets internationally, where it is anticipated to gross US$52.6 million, bringing the film US$130.6 million in its worldwide release, the most for a horror release this year.

“It was an extraordinary debut,” said Jim Orr, the president of domestic distribution at Universal, who praised Blumhouse, the producers and the studio’s marketing department for the targeted campaign.

“Our marketing department continues to be one of the best superpowers we have at Universal”he commented.

Blumhouse, the company behind “Paranormal Activity”, “Get Out” and recent horror hits like “M3GAN” and “The Black Phone produced “Five Nights at Freddy’s”, which was directed by Emma Tami and stars Josh Hutcherson, Mary Stuart Masterson and Matthew Lillard. The popular video game series, where a security guard has to fend off murderous animatronic characters in a run-down family pizzeria, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, was created by Scott Cawthon and premiered in 2014.

It is expected that the second place, “Taylor Swift: “The Eras Tour”, crossed US$ 200 million worldwide by the end of Sunday, adding US$ 14.7 million domestically and US$ 6.7 million internationally this weekend. Third place went to “Killers of the Flower Moon” by Martin Scorsese, which added $9 million in its second weekend for a domestic total of $40.7 million, according to Paramount. With an additional $14.1 million from the international market, the film’s total is now $88 million.

The ten highest-grossing movies in theaters in the United States and Canada this weekend, according to Comscore. The final figures come out on Monday.

1. “Five Nights at Freddy’s” – US$78 million.

2. “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” – US$14.7 million.

3. “Killers of the Flower Moon” – US$9 million.

4. “After Death” – US$5.1 million.

5. “The Exorcist: Believer” – US$3.1 million.

6. “Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie” – US$2.2 million.

7. “Freelance” – US$ 2.1 million.

8. “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (re-release) – US$2 million.

9. “Saw X” – US$1.7 million.

10. “The Creator” – US$1 million.

Source: AP