Before it was a movie,Five Nights at Freddy’swas a very successful video game that may well have been inspired by a real-life tragedy. Created by Scott Cawthon, the franchise has developed almost 20 games since its introduction in 2014. In 2023, Blumhouse Productions brought the story to the big screen with the filmFive Nights at Freddy’s, starring John Hutcherson (The Hunger Games) as Mike Schmidt, a security guard haunted by the disappearance of his little brother years before.
He still has nightmares about the abduction, and when he takes a job at a closed-down pizzeria that once housed beloved animatronics that would play music for kids, his nightmares become more vivid. Soon,the animatronics come to life, and Mike finds his life, as well as that of his younger sister, are in great danger.While this sounds great for a horror story, several things about the franchise, the games, and the movie have clear connections to thehistory of the Chuck E. Cheese pizza franchise, and there is even an early game theory that connects it to a specific, tragic, event.
How A Chuck E. Cheese Tragedy May Have Inspired Five Nights At Freddy’s
A Real-Life Shooting Led To A Game Theory
The history of theFive Nights at Freddy’sfranchise is all about creator Scott Cawthon and a crisis of faith he underwent in the early 2010s. However, one of the things that may have influenced him to put the story into an abandoned pizzeria that was once the home of a great tragedy was a real-life event that happened in 1993. On June 08, 2025, a former employee (19-year-old Nathan Dunlap)went to his former employer, Chuck E. Cheese, and shot and killed four employeeswhile injuring a fifth (viaThe Colorado Sun).
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At the time, the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado, was the deadliest mass shooting in Colorado history (later eclipsed by the Columbine shooting). Dunlap was found guilty of four counts of first-degree murder, attempted murder, and other charges and was sentenced to death by lethal injection. That was later overturned, and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2020.
The original Chuck E. Cheese tragedy saw four people murdered and one seriously injured by a gunman.
While the incidents that took place in the game were not the same as those in real life,Scott Cawthon had theFive Nights at Freddy’stragedies take place in 1993 as well.However, these murders had nothing to do with the animatronics. He was just a teenager who was fired, seeking revenge against the restaurant where he used to work. Despite the fact that there is only a tenuous connection - the year, and the obvious parallels with Chuck E Cheese - this was enough for MatPat of The Game Theorists on YouTube to draw the connection. MatPat is famous for his deep dives into the lore ofFNAF, and this was one of the earliest theories to gain traction. However, there is still no confirmation that this is a direct inspiration for the series, as Cawthon hasn’t commented on the theory.
How Did Five Nights At Freddy’s Become A Franchise?
Scott Cawthon Created The Game After A Crisis Of Faith
Scott Cawthon was possibly the last person anyone would have suspected would make a video game about animatronics possessed by children’s spirits killing people. Cawthon was a devout Christian whospent his time making self-funded Christian adventure games.However, these were not profitable, and he had a wife and kids to support. He decided to start making cheaper non-Christian computer and mobile games. At this time, Cawthon reportedly began to question the existence of God and even contemplated suicide.
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He kept working, though, and next created a family-friendly resource management game calledChipper & Sons Lumber. However, there was a problem with this game. Players and reviewers bashed the game, saying the characters looked “creepy” and like “scary” animatronics (viaThe New York Times). Cawthon decided to take the criticism and do something about it by setting out to “make something a lot scarier than that.”
The firstFive Nights at Freddy’svideogame was released in August 2014.
That is howFive Nights at Freddy’scame to be, withCawthon creating animatronic villainsbased on the critique of his last game. Cawthon refuses to discuss his inspirations and prefers to let the games speak for themselves. However, looking at the games in the franchise, there are clear parallels between Fazbear Entertainment Co. and Chuck E Cheese.
In real life, rival animatronic-themed pizza restaurants, Pizza-Time Theater and Showbiz Pizza Palace, eventually merged into modern-day Chuck E. Cheese. In the games,two rival pizza chains merged to become the entities known as Fazbear Entertainment Co.While he hasn’t openly mentioned the connection, it is clear thatFive Nights at Freddy’sis based largely on Chuck E. Cheese, its history, and the sometimes scary animatronics that the restaurants are known for.
What Changed From The Story When It Became A Movie?
Michael Was Changed Completely From The Games
WhenFive Nights at Freddy’scame to the big screen, massive changes were made.The biggest change came with Mike Schmidt. In the movie, Mike was a young boy when someone abducted his little brother from the park where they were playing. Mike had been undergoing his own sort of sleep therapy, trying to remember the event better to find clues about what could have happened to his little brother. That led to the twist in the film that the man who hired him was the original abductor.
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However, this was not what happened in the video games. While Mike was an overnight security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza trying to survive the animatronics in both cases, in the games, Mike wasn’t looking for the mystery of his missing brother. The reason he stayed on the job despite the danger was unknown in the games, where in the movie, he was trying to prove himself to keep custody of his little sister.
It changed the relationship to having William Afton having a daughter named Vanessa.
The game’s lore remains a mystery, although the biggest theory is that Mike Schmidt is Michael Afton, the son of William Afton (the villain in the film and the games). However, the movie changes the relationship with William Afton, who instead has a daughter named Vanessa. She is also in the games, but she is not William’s daughter there. This was likely changed to separate Mike from the villain in any way other than William abducting Mike’s younger brother in the film.
What Did Scott Cawthon Think Of Five Nights At Freddy’s Movie?
Scott Cawthon Thanked Fans For The Movie’s Success
Scott Cawthon co-wrote the screenplay alongside Seth Cuddeback and Emma Tammi. In 2018,Cawthon said he wanted to create something fans would enjoy. “I don’t always get things just right. I’ve been writing this script. It doesn’t mean the movie’s going to be perfect,” he said (viaThe New York Times). “But I hope everybody at least believes that my No. 1 goal is to verify that I don’t let anybody down. A lot of people enjoy these characters and these games, and that means the world to me.”
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At the same time, his fellow screenwriters said that his appreciation of the movie was all that mattered to them. Emma Tammi, who went on to directFive Nights at Freddy’ssaid Cawthon’s approval was important:
“We would not be releasing this film if Scott was not satisfied. This goes back to how passionately he feels and how protective he is of the fan base. He would not let something out into the world that he didn’t put his stamp of approval on. I wouldn’t be here today without his seal of approval.”
After the film’s release, Scott Cawthon was extremely happy withFive Nights at Freddy’s. While critics bashed it, the movie was a financial success, and a sequel is coming in December 2025. In aRedditpost, Cawthon said, “Thanks everyone for making opening weekend such a big success. It was beyond my wildest dreams. I do read the comments and critiques, so while I’m glad most people had a great time at the movies, I’m definitely paying attention, and I wanted you all to know that.”
Five Nights at Freddy’s
Cast
Five Nights at Freddy’s is an adaptation of the popular video game franchise of the same name, directed by Emma Tammi. The film centers around a maintenance worker handling night duties at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a children’s amusement center home to a grizzly tragedy in its history. The animatronics come to life at night, and the worker must survive until daybreak.
