It's no secret that movies for younger audiences tend to be critic-proof. If kids and teenagers are exciting for an upcoming title, it's typically the case that no amount of bad buzz is going to dissuade them buying (or getting their parent/guardian to buy) a ticket. The latest example of this particular phenomenon can be seen in the opening weekend numbers for Emma Tammi's Five Nights At Freddy's 2, which has easily won a box office crown in the last three days... but if one does a bit of digging into the numbers, one discovers that it's not quite the huge win that folks at Blumhouse Productions and Universal Pictures were hoping for.
The Top 10 for this weekend tell a story, but close inspection reveals a few signs of trouble as the industry nears the end of 2025. Check out the full chart below and join me after for analysis.
TITLE | WEEKEND GROSS | DOMESTIC GROSS | LW | THTRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Five Nights At Freddy’s 2* | $63,000,000 | $63,000,000 | N/A | 3,412 |
2. Zootopia 2 | $43,000,000 | $220,474,037 | 1 | 4,000 |
3. Wicked: For Good | $16,750,000 | $296,951,660 | 2 | 3,985 |
4. Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution* | $10,155,000 | $10,155,000 | N/A | 1,833 |
5. Now You See Me: Now You Don’t | $3,500,000 | $55,324,383 | 3 | 2,629 |
6. Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair | $3,250,000 | $3,250,000 | N/A | 1,198 |
7. Eternity | $2,726,043 | $9,582,661 | 4 | 2,386 |
8. Hamnet | $2,300,000 | $4,177,850 | 6 | 744 |
9. Predator: Badlands | $1,857,000 | $88,258,490 | 4 | 2,080 |
10. The Running Man | $1,115,000 | $36,525,717 | 5 | 1,549 |
Five Nights At Freddy's 2 Easily Won The Weekend Box Office, But There May Be Trouble Ahead For The Video Game Adaptation
Going into this weekend, there was no question that Five Nights At Freddy's 2 would debut in the top spot of domestic charts. The franchise has a significant fanbase thanks to the popularity of the video games on which the movies are based, and there were reliable expectations that those fans would show up for the new sequel's arrival on the big screen. As you can see above, the film easily fulfilled that prophecy, forcing Jared Bush and Byron Howard's Zootopia 2 to settle for a silver medal following its strong Thanksgiving debut (more on that in a bit)... but the results also aren't exactly what the industry was hoping for from the blockbuster December feature.
According to early figures reported by The Numbers, Five Nights At Freddy's 2 made $63 million in its opening weekend domestically, which, at first blush, is quite big. As is typical from projects produced by Blumhouse, the movie didn't have a massive budget ($36 million, per Variety), and it's a better start than a lot of other notable 2025 hits – including Joseph Kosinski's F1 ($57 million), Ryan Coogler's Sinners ($48 million) and Zac Cregger's Weapons ($43.5 million). Upon closer examination, however, one can't help but notice some issues that may have long-term impacts.
The most significant worry point in the film's performance is that ticket sales are far lower than what we saw from its predecessor a little over two years ago. When Emma Tammi's Five Nights At Freddy's arrived on the big screen in October 2023 (prime for Halloween), its theatrical potential was handicapped by the fact that it was given a day-and-date release for Peacock subscribers... and yet, it still managed to make $80 million in its first three days in cinemas. The sequel making approximately $17 million less is a significant step down – especially considering that its playing exclusively in theaters.
There are other troubling signs for the franchise too. While it's true that Five Nights At Freddy's 2 was able to survive an extremely response from critics (I myself gave it one-and-a-half stars in my CinemaBlend review), there are signs that the core audience isn't super happy with the work either. While CinemaScore surveys returned a strong "A-" grade when the original first premiered, the sequel got a middling "B," suggesting significant less satisfaction with the feature.
I expect that next weekend will be the true test for the film. Because the first Five Nights At Freddy's was given a simultaneous streaming debut, its box office numbers tanked in its second weekend (dropping 76 percent), as anyone just mildly curious about the movie opted to just check it out in their living room. That option won't be available for the sequel, and it will be interesting to see what kind of toll is taken by both waning interest and the bad critical buzz.
In the big picture, it appears as though Five Nights At Freddy's 2 won't be as big a hit as the first movie (which made nearly $300 million worldwide during its theatrical run), but it still is going to be a financial success: in addition to the $63 million earned domestically in the last three days, it made $46.1 million from foreign markets, which brings its global total to date up to $109.1 million. Given these numbers, we can likely expect that the big screen franchise will keep going... but it will be interesting to see if the diminished results and response end up inspiring some behind-the-scenes changes.
Significant Competition Sees Zootopia 2 Take A Modest Dip In Its Second Week
The arrival of Five Nights At Freddy's 2 was always going to spell trouble for Zootopia 2. While the films really couldn't be more different, the reality is that the two movie do share a target demographic of young people, and the industry was always going to see a bit of "robbing Peter to pay Paul" with the titles coming out so close together. As such, it isn't shocking to see the Disney Animation Studios title move to second place today following its terrific debut during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend – but it is worth noting that the film is still doing quite well.
A 57 percent weekend-to-weekend drop isn't anything for filmmakers and executives at Disney to cheer about, but Zootopia 2 easily took second place this weekend by earning $43 million, and its domestic total is now up to a shocking $220.5 million. That means it is already the ninth biggest title of 2025, having surpassed the $200.5 million made by Julius Onah's Captain America: Brave New World in the early months of the year. A finish in the Top 5 is almost assured at this point... though whether it can match surpass the $423 million totals of Jared Hess' A Minecraft Movie and Dean Fleischer Camp's Lilo and Stitch is an open question.
Great as those results are, the picture gets even rosier when we look at what the animated feature is doing globally. Zootopia 2 has made a shocking $695 million from foreign markets during its big screen run so far, which means that the film is already on the verge of becoming just the third feature in 2025 to earn over $1 billion worldwide (joining Jiaozi's Ne Zha 2 and the aforementioned Lilo And Stitch). It's a very healthy development for the industry, particularly with us now being just a couple weeks from the blockbuster arrival of James Cameron's Avatar: Fire And Ash.
Before movie-goers head back to Pandora, however, this coming Friday will see the release of James L. Brooks' political dramedy Ella McCay, Bryan Fuller's fantasy Dust Bunny, and Mike P. Nelson's slasher remake of Silent Night, Deadly Night. How will they shake up the new Top 10? Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next Sunday for my full box office report, and check out our 2025 Movie Release Calendar to discover all of the movies that are set to be released before we start the new year.
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