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Moviegoers had plenty of reasons to be terrified in 2023. The year saw the release of plenty of spooky flicks, like Evil Dead Rise, Founders Day, Scream VI, The Boogeyman, and The Nun II…and that’s just getting started. With so many chilling horror titles, it’s quite an accomplishment that Five Night’s at Freddy’s was the highest grossing horror film for the year. Based on the hit video game franchise, Five Night’s at Freddy’s cinematic success was a surprise to everyone…except for Scott Cawthon, the man who created the games.

Speaking to a crowd at New York City Comic Con, Blumhouse Productions CEO Jason Blum reflected on the film’s strong performance. “I think it shocked everyone involved in the movie except for Scott Cawthon. It did not shock Scott, and god bless him, he’s one of the most brilliant people I have ever worked with. He’s never made a movie before,” Blum said.

Blum was amazed by Cawthon’s talent, especially because he had never made a film before. “He’s never made a movie before, and he was three steps ahead of me and everybody else on the movie, from beginning to end, including predicting that – not in an arrogant way – but having the most confidence in the movie when it was finished. Every time we would get into a conversation, he was always right.”

However, Blum reminded the audience that FNAF’s cinematic success did not happen overnight. “We worked on the movie for about eight or then years. In that time, Scott was really learning about the movie business, learning about how to tell a story in a movie. He knows how to tell a story in a game, in a book, and in other media, but really how movies work, how scripts work. He really sucked in all this information.”

“A lot of people who own IP are the producer the movie, but are pretty hands off. He was involved in every decision that we made as kind of the bellwether to make sure that we things that the fans of Five Nights would appreciate, and that wouldn’t make people ill, which sometimes studios can do.”

Kudos to Scott Cawthon. Having your first film become the highest-grossing horror movie of 2023 is quite an accomplishment. Now let’s see what Five Night’s at Freddy’s 2 can do.

Five Night’s at Freddy’s 2 will hit theaters on December 5, 2025.

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