Five Nights At Freddy's Is The Rare Day-And-Date Release That Makes Perfect Sense
I admittedly have a lot of mixed feelings about simultaneous release schedules, also known as the day-and-date model. The traditional industry standard is that most films enjoy an exclusive window of about 90 days in theaters before the film becomes available for home video release. But as technology has evolved and the accessibility of streaming has changed the cinematic landscape, the day-and-date model has been adopted by independently released films as a way to find an audience, knowing that it's harder to do so sandwiched between mega-blockbuster releases.
Before the start of the pandemic, the Seth Rogen and James Franco comedy, "The Interview," was the only major studio release to go day-and-date, doing so only because the film earned legitimate threats of nuclear warfare. During the pandemic, however, day-and-date releases became more popular as fewer people were willing to risk their health and safety by going to the theaters. Some of Pixar's best films in the last decade were tragically never released on the big screen because of it, and there are films like James Gunn's "The Suicide Squad" that suffered at the box office.
Of course, blaming day-and-date during a pandemic isn't exactly making the space for nuance, but thus far, the release model just hasn't brought good results to studio pictures. There are benefits to day-and-date releases in terms of accessibility, but it also runs the risk of making the films easier to pirate and putting a major dent in the coveted box office numbers.
But the next major release to go day-and-date is the upcoming Blumhouse adaptation of the popular video game "Five Nights at Freddy's," and it might be the best example of a studio film that benefits from a simultaneous release.
Give the kids what they want
If there's one thing to know about "Five Nights at Freddy's," it's that the franchise is ridiculously popular. However, the thing that differentiates the "FNAF" fandom from Trekkies or Whovians is not just a difference in entertainment mediums, but also age. Sure, there are "Five Nights at Freddy's" fans of all ages (my 30-something self included), but the "FNAF" fandom is overwhelmingly young.
"Five Nights at Freddy's" birthday party decorations are available on Amazon, Funko, Syano, VNKVTL, and other toy companies all have multiple product lines centered on the game's characters, and countless mommy blogs even offer parenting advice about how to help kids with nightmares or anxiety sparked by playing the game. When the trailer for the film first dropped, the first person who messaged me about it was not another film journalist or fellow horror fan; it was my 10-year-old niece.
"Five Nights at Freddy's" going day-and-date is an incredibly savvy business move because the core audience that is likely frothing at the mouth to see the animatronic nightmare fuel the most can't go to the theaters on their own. Of course, there will be plenty of cool parents who support their chilren's passions and take them to see the film, but there will also be those who have zero interest in buying a ticket to see it. Convincing a parent to see a Pixar film is one thing. Convincing a parent to sit through a movie about dead kids being shoved into robot mascot costumes is another.
The mobile access of "Five Nights at Freddy's" allowed a generation of budding horror fans to fall in love with the sensation of getting scared without parental interference, and a release on Peacock will allow them to do the same.
If you ask me, this is a very, very good thing.