Blumhouse‘s long-gestating adaptation of the popular video game Five Nights at Freddy’s will be directed by Emma Tammi, who burst onto the scene with her 2018 horror western The Wind.
Jason Blum made the announcement on Wednesday, adding that Blumhouse will be working alongside Jim Henson’s Creature Shop to bring the game’s animatronic characters to life. The original 2014 lineup included Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie the Bunny, Chica the Chicken, and Foxy the Pirate Fox, though other terrifying characters joined as the franchise expanded.
Created by Scott Cawthon, Five Nights at Freddy’s follows a troubled night security guard at a family-friendly pizza joint akin to Chuck E. Cheese, whose first shift quickly becomes a terrifying ordeal and a fight for survival.
Cawthon and Tammi co-wrote the script with Seth Cuddeback, and Blumhouse is producing the movie in association with Striker Entertainment. Blum and Cawthon will serve as producers, while Russell Binder will serve as executive producer.
“With Emma Tammi at the helm, we’re committed to making Scott’s vision of the movie come to life. Rest assured, it will be and is worth the wait,” said Blum, who added that he’s asked about Five Nights at Freddy’s as much as he is any of his other movies.
I wasn’t a huge fan of The Wind, though it earned largely positive reviews when it premiered in Toronto in 2018 as part of the festival’s midnight lineup. Fortunately, I can’t imagine Tammi making a worse movie than the similarly-themed Willy’s Wonderland, which featured a range of killer animatronics in addition to a wordless performance from Nicolas Cage.
She’s represented by CAA and Atlas Artists.
