The Five Nights at Freddy’s Movie gets its third director

The long-announced Five Nights at Freddy’s movie has confirmed the latest director to be attached to the project.

Deadline reports that Emma Tammi will be directing the film, the rights to which were originally acquired by Warner Bros. in 2015 before horror studio Blumhouse Productions took over in 2017.

Tammi most recently directed horror film The Wind, which received a score of 81% on movie review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes.

She is the third director to attached to the project, which has struggled to get beyond the pre-production phase.

After Warner Bros. Pictures announced in 2015 that it had acquired the rights to make a Five Nights at Freddy’s movie, Monster House director Gil Kenan was signed to direct the film.

The series’ creator Scott Cawthon then stated in 2017 that the project was “back at square one”, before it was revealed later in the year that horror production company Blumhouse was taking over.

It was then confirmed in 2018 that Chris Columbus (Home Alone, the first two Harry Potter movies) was going to direct the film, until Blumhouse Pictures founder Jason Blum stated in 2021 that Columbus was no longer attached to the project.

However, Blum stated in a tweet on Wednesday that Tammi was now signed on to direct, adding that filming will begin in February 2023 and that the animatronics would be created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.

The Five Nights at Freddy’s series of horror games gained widespread popularity due to the wide number of YouTubers playing the game and reacting to its scarier moments. A total of eight main games in the series have been released to date.

Series creator Scott Cawthon announced in June 2021 that he was retiring from game development after being criticised for making donations to Republican candidates and organisations, including Donald Trump.

Cawthon claimed at the time that he would find someone else to oversee the franchise following his departure, but he still appears to be attached to Blumhouse’s movie.