Five Nights at Freddy’s star Josh Hutcherson says Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 will be bigger and scarier than the first movie
The video game adaptation Five Nights at Freddy’s (read our review HERE) quickly became Blumhouse Productions’ highest-grossing movie when it reached theatres and the Peacock streaming service back in October, surpassing the likes of Split, The Invisible Man, The Black Phone, M3GAN, the recent Halloween sequel trilogy, and the Paranormal Activity, Insidious, and The Purge franchises with its haul of $295 million. So, of course, there’s a sequel coming our way, aiming for a December 5, 2025 theatrical release. And returning star Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games) has said that Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is going to be bigger and scarier than its predecessor!
Five Nights at Freddy’s stars Hutcherson alongside Matthew Lillard (Scream), Mary Stuart Masterson (Benny & Joon), Elizabeth Lail (You), Piper Rubio (Holly & Ivy), and Kat Conner Sterling (A Week Away). The film follows a troubled security guard as he begins working at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. While spending his first night on the job, he realizes the night shift at Freddy’s won’t be so easy to make it through.
Stunt performers Kevin Foster (WandaVision), Jade Kindar-Martin (Interview with the Vampire), and Jess Weiss (Mayfair Witches) play the animatronics Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, and Chica. Fans are speculating that characters called Toy Chica and Mangle might be in the sequel, but their involvement has not been confirmed.
The video game takes place in Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a darker version of Chuck-E-Cheese, where an animatronic animal band performs kiddy songs by day, and goes on murderous rampages by night. The goal of the game is survive a night locked inside, knowing that a furry death machine might jump out of the dark at any moment.
Speaking with Esquire, Hutcherson said Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is “much bigger; the stakes are higher. There’s more animatronics being brought in, different animatronics being brought in, and the world just opens up in a big way. We’re finding the balance right now of building this world and expanding it in a really cool way but also making sure the characters stay really grounded. That’s something that I really think that we all fought for in the first film, because this world that was created in Five Nights at Freddy’s, it’s so out there. It’s so over-the-top and wacky, in a way, that to find the emotional truth of the characters was gonna be what was gonna work. I think the fans are gonna flip for it. It’s gonna be a lot of fun with the source. It’s gonna be scarier, too, actually.“
Asked if he might stick with the franchise beyond this sequel, Hutcherson answered, “You never know. I mean, I love working in this world. Emma Tammi, our director, is phenomenal, and with my character, Mike, I think the possibilities are endless. This could have a very potentially long run and it could be a lot of fun, but at this point, we’re focusing on the second movie. We’ll see what comes after that.“
We’ve previously heard that Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is expected to film in Louisiana from October 28, 2024 through January 31, 2025.
The first adaptation was originally set up at Warner Bros., where Gil Kenan (Monster House) was going to direct the film from a screenplay he was writing with Tyler Burton Smith (the Child’s Play remake). Then the project moved over to Blumhouse, where Chris Columbus (Home Alone) was attached to direct it for several years. It finally went into production with Emma Tammi – director of The Wind, Into the Dark: Delivered, and Into the Dark: Blood Moon – at the helm, working from a screenplay she wrote with Seth Cuddeback (Mateo) and video game creator Scott Cawthon. Tragedy Girls writers Tyler MacIntyre and Chris Lee Hill share story credit with Cawthon.
Five Nights at Freddy’s was produced by Blumhouse, in association with Striker Entertainment. Cawthon is a producer alongside Blumhouse founder Jason Blum. Russell Binder is executive producing. Jim Henson’s Creature Shop handled the special effects that bring the homicidal animatronic animals to life on the screen.
Are you looking forward to the bigger, scarier Five Nights at Freddy’s 2? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
