Considering Scott Cawthon’s Five Nights at Freddy’s multimedia franchise has inspirational roots in the animatronic stage shows popularized by ShowBiz Pizza, there’s a certain pop culture logic behind the idea that the latter’s corporate devourer Chuck E. Cheese would make for an ideal promotional partner. Not that the two vibes are similar in the slightest, given only one of them involves jump scares and a variety of deaths, but there’s an alternate reality out there where the kids entertainment brand embraced the first FNAF film in the upcoming trilogy from Blumhouse and Universal. In this reality, however, there’s only the pale comparison dubbed “Five Nights of Fun.”
Chuck E. Cheese’s higher-ups have distanced the youth-leaning company from Five Nights at Freddy’s since the early days following the initial game’s 2014 release and quick rise in popularity. So I’m in some ways surprised that it went all in on a thematic event so clearly fueled by the upcoming Emma Tammi-directed feature, even though other parts of me are judgmental by my own shock. Let’s take a closer look at what this not-so-FNAF-y promotion will include.
The “five nights” in question won’t involve any unwitting odor-bomb taking over as security guard for Chuck E. Cheese’s most haunted location, but rather a series of deals specific to Chuck E. Cheese rewards members, including E-Ticket offers, playtime options and more. And you better believe there will be trademarked Boo-tacular treats, as well as a chance to win a free late-night party.
When does that party take place? On the night of Friday, October 27, of course. Up to 10 kids will get to spend the hours between 8:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. enjoying All You Can Play games and a bunch of pizza, ice cream and drinks. Sounds fun, even if it precludes the winner and their friends from going to watch Five Nights at Freddy’s on the night of its release. A move as sly as a Foxy.
How much sweeter would that experience be for horror fans if Chuck E. Cheese set up a projector and screened Five Nights at Freddy’s for the winner, as “modified” versions of the brand’s most recognizable characters popped up throughout. The horror flick is also hitting streaming the same day with a Peacock subscription, so getting a copy of the film wouldn’t even be a hassle. Granted, it might be a lot for the amusement center to go all-in like that just for a single-night event, but the obvious way to balance that would be to make it a nationwide campaign where all Chuck E. Cheese facilities would go dark and spooky in the late evening hours. [Cackles loudly into my own face reflecting off of a crane game.]
I can’t be the only person who would love to take part in a “real” Five Nights at Freddy’s experience, at it would seemingly be far better at an establishment that’s already set up as a traditional games-and-pizza joint. (Not that I’d balk at a bunch of new brick-and-mortar Fazbear Pizzerias being constructed in the wild.) Look no further than, say, the IT-themed escape room in Las Vegas; perhaps non-coincidentally, that’s also where there was a full-size FNAF haunted house back in 2016, so there’s precedent! Hopefully we’ll get a themed attraction at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, since it wasn’t included in the 2023 lineup of haunted houses.
By all means, I guess I’m glad to see any and all Halloween-geared events happening, but this one would be a little easier to digest if Chuck E. Cheese didn’t view FNAF as an enemy. An image shared on Reddit appears to come from an employee memo regarding the Five Nights of Fun promotion, featuring what appears to be Dos and Don’ts regarding how to avoid addressing Five Nights at Freddy’s directly. Nobody in uniform better dare refer to the purple-tinted Mr. Munch as William Afton, or there will be animatronic riots.
Even if you’ll have to watch it in theaters or at home instead of in a Chuck E. Cheese, check out the trailer for Five Nights at Freddy’s.
One of many upcoming horror movies on the horror-izon, Five Nights at Freddy’s will hit theaters and Peacock’s streaming library on Friday, October 27.