On Apr. 5, Blumhouse revealed that the long-anticipated “Five Nights at Freddy’s” movie will be released on Oct. 27 through Universal Pictures. Based on the immensely popular horror game franchise of the same name, the movie is expected to feature the same characters and plot points of the games. 

   This film has been “in development” since April 2015, when Warner Bros. Pictures announced that they had secured rights to it. In March 2017, the creator of the series, Scott Cawthon, announced that the film would now be produced by Blumhouse. 

   Two iconic actors have already been announced for the film: Matthew Lillard, known for his work as Stu in “Scream” and as Shaggy in “Scooby Doo”, will play the antagonist William Afton, and Josh Hutcherson, Peeta in “The Hunger Games” franchise, will play security guard Mike Schmidt.

   The series focuses on a fictional pizza restaurant that is home to haunted animatronics possessed by the spirits of children who “disappeared” years prior. These animatronics then terrorize the nighttime security guard, who the player plays as, and attempt to have him meet the same fate they met.

   Across the nine entries in the series, the setting and characters change, but the core remains the same. The canonical timeline ranges from the 1980s to 2023 and beyond (dates are not directly stated) so it will be interesting to see how the directors can comprehensively tie the plot together within the confines of the movie’s duration.

   Filming occurred between February and March of this year, nearly eight years after the initial announcement of a movie being made. Needless to say, fans are thrilled to finally make the trip to the theaters this Halloween.