Universal PicturesWhether Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 experiences the same critic-audience divide or not, director Emma Tammi isn’t worried. As she pointed out, this movie is for the fans.
The first Five Nights at Freddy’s film was a resounding success, not least because it aptly preserves what fans of the game love while still functioning as its own cinematic story.
When it landed in cinemas in October 2023, the film earned $300 million worldwide against a $20 million budget, making it Blumhouse’s highest-grossing movie, while audiences rated it 86% on Rotten Tomatoes.
But it was a totally different story when it came to the critics, who scored Five Nights at Freddy’s just 33%. If this divide happens again with the upcoming sequel, it won’t be an issue for the creative team.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 director isn’t worried about the critics
Dexerto caught up with Emma Tammi ahead of the Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 release to ask about that divide and whether it was something the crew noticed. “Oh yeah, we noticed it,” she told us.
“The reviews come out and it takes a beat longer for all the audience reactions to start trickling in. So I think when the audience scores started coming in so high, we were like, ‘Oof, we did it.’
“This was who this movie was for. If it’s connecting with them, if they’re getting it, then we did a good job and we did what we set out to do.
“And, you know, I read a lot of those reviews and I understand a lot of their critique. I think, at the core, this movie wasn’t for the critics. I think you’ve just got to be able to let it go.”
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Universal PicturesThe filmmaker went on to say that she’s “not expecting the sequel to resonate with the critics either,” adding, “If it does, great, that’ll be gravy. But again, that’s not who this is for, and I think we’re very clear on who we wanted this movie to land with.
“I’m really hoping the fan base and the people who enjoyed the first movie come out and see the second because I think it might satisfy them even more than the first one.”
Not only does the sequel see the original cast reprising their roles, but we’ll also be introduced to the big screen versions of Toy Freddy, Toy Chica, and Toy Bonnie, who’ll be voiced by Kellen Goff, Megan Fox, and MatPat respectively.
Horror sequel features Scream reunion
But that’s not all – Matthew Lillard will return as William Afton, and Skeet Ulrich is making his debut in the sequel as Henry Emily.
Meaning Five Nights at Freddy’s is a Scream reunion, as both actors played the original Ghostfaces in Wes Craven’s horror classic.
When asked what it was like to have them both together on set, Tammi said, “It was incredible. When Skeet got cast, he and Matt were already talking… Their reunion in this movie already signals so much that feels connected to their Scream days.
“ So the overlap between those two fan bases now, and then just the FnaF fan base and the Scream fan base in and of themselves is such a powerhouse.
“This feels like a tremendous wealth of excitement, and I feel it too – I was fanning out about it while we were shooting, and I still am.”
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 hits theaters on December 5, 2025. Until then, read about all of the FnaF books and games, all the YouTubers in the first movie, and other films to watch in cinemas this month.