May is just a few days away, but Peacock is still rolling out a few more titles this April. Following the arrival of movies and TV shows like Nosferatu, Pulp Fiction, and the new original series The Miniature Wife, the NBC Universal streamer is setting the stage for a great double feature with the arrival of the biggest horror movie of 2023, with its sequel already on the platform.
Five Nights at Freddy’s joined Peacock’s streaming library on April 26th. The movie is based on Scott Cawthon’s popular indie horror video game series of the same and adapts the premise of a security guard working at a haunted pizzeria populated by murderous, possessed animatronics. The film was a massive box office success, earning over $297 million worldwide to become Blumhouse’s highest-grossing film ever and the highest-grossing horror movie of the year, topping other box office winners like The Nun II and Scream VI. The movie’s success ultimately led to the 2025 sequel Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, which started streaming on Peacock on April 3rd.
Critics may have taken issue with what they described as a slow pace, lack of scares, and confusing plot, handing Five Nights at Freddy’s a low 33% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes, but for general audiences, the movie was an overwhelming win. The film earned a high 86% audience rating from fans who appreciated its deep commitment to the games and felt it was a near-perfect adaptation that captured the general feel, lore, and aesthetic of the game franchise.
Rather than delivering constant, high-octane horror, the movie committed to the “survive the night” aspect of the gameplay, focusing on a slow build of tension amid a storyline that incorporated key elements from the games, including the haunted pizzeria backstory, Mike’s nightmares, and the tragic tale of the missing children. Five Nights at Freddy’s also packed constant deep-cut references, Easter eggs, and cameos and successfully recreated the visual feel and atmosphere of the game for fans, bringing animatronics like Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy to the big screen through designs by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop and perfectly capturing the abandoned 80s pizzeria. While that fan focus was a hindrance in many critics’ eyes, it ultimately aided the film’s overwhelming success and led to the sequel, which once again split critics and audiences but brought about big returns at the box office.
Five Nights at Freddy’s is one of the final major additions to Peacock’s streaming library this month, meaning there are dozens of other great titles ready to stream! Peacock subscribers looking for movies to add to their watchlist can now press play on titles including The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Dead Poets Society, Face/Off, Interstellar, and Space Jam, with one final movie, Spirit Untamed, set to arrive on April 30th.
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