‘Five Nights at Freddy’s 2’ tops box office with $63 million

LOS ANGELES – Universal’s “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” opened with $63 million this weekend to lead all films in North America, according to industry estimates released Sunday.

The second film based on the popular video game series beat out last weekend’s top-grossing film, Disney’s “Zootopia 2,” which grossed $43 million Friday through Sunday in its second weekend in theaters, Comscore reported.

“Wicked: For Good” made another $16.7 million in its third weekend.

“Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution” opened with $10.1 million for fourth place, followed by “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t,” which made $3.5 million in its fourth weekend.

A special, 4.5-hour combined release of director Quentin Tarantino’s 2003 “Kill Bill: Vol. 1” and 2004 “Kill Bill: Vol. 2” titled “Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair” opened to $3.2 million for sixth place.

Rounding out the top 10 domestic releases were “Eternity,” ($2.7 million), “Hamnet” ($2.3 million), “Dhurandhar” ($1.9 million) and “Predator: Badlands” ($1.8 million).

Biggest first weekend post-Thanksgiving

Seemingly immune to widely negative reviews, “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” notched the biggest opening ever for the weekend after Thanksgiving, which usually is a more muted buffet of leftovers.

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This image released by Universal Pictures shows Toy Freddy, voiced by Kellen Goff, in a scene from “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2.” (Ryan Green/Universal Pictures via AP)

It’s also the biggest opening of the year for a PG-13 rated movie and the second biggest horror opening, behind “The Conjuring: Last Rites.”

The movies and the game are about a family restaurant, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, whose anthropomorphic robots turn murderous at night.

“There’s been a lot of doom and gloom about the industry overall, but this movie helped drive the industry to the biggest first weekend post-Thanksgiving ever,” said Jim Orr, who heads domestic distribution for Universal.

The first film, also a Blumhouse production, was a surprise hit two years ago. It opened to $80 million in October 2023, despite also being available to stream on Peacock. Universal decided to open the sequel exclusively in theaters.

With a reported production price tag of only $36 million, “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” is on its way to being another smash. It’s another reminder of the potential massive upside of theatrical releases as many in the industry and out wonder what Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros. will mean for moviegoing.

The sequel, written by the game’s creator Scott Cawthon, saw the return of cast members like Josh Hutcherson, Matthew Lillard and Elizabeth Lail as well as director Emma Tammi.

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