Universal Studios’ film adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy’s scared up a monster box office after the original creator Scott Cawthon refused to apologize to a woke cancel mob over his political donations to politicians such as Donald Trump and Tulsi Gabbard.
According to The-Numbers, the film banked an estimated $78 million domestically in its opening weekend despite having a day and date release on the streaming service Peacock.
Not only did the film gross $78 million domestically, but it pulled in another $52.5 million internationally for a global gross of $130.5 million.
The film reportedly had a budget of $20 million according to Deadline’s Anthony D’Alessandro.
With a budget of only $20 million, the film’s break even point theatrically was $50 million. Given the $78 million haul domestically, it’s clear the film has made quite a bit of cash for not only Universal, but production company Blumhouse.
In fact, Blum revealed to Fortune the film had already been profitable for Blumhouse. The outlet’s Devin Gordon reported, “Blum is already out way ahead before the movie even opens: He declines to share precise figures, but he says the film has more than made back its production costs just from the sale of its streaming and theatrical distribution rights.”
The roaring success of the Five Nights at Freddy’s film adaptation comes in the wake of Scott Cawthon refusing to cave to a woke cancel mob over his political donations to President Donald and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard among others.
Cawthon found himself the ire of a cancel mob when Twitter user IamGryphoneer, who has since been suspended, took to the social media site to deride the Five Nights at Freddy’s creator as a “Christian fundie” as well as someone who supports “a crypto fash who’s allied with hindutva militias, pushes anti-trans bills and appeared on PragerU.”
The user wrote, “turns out scott cawthon, well-known as the creator of five nights at freddy’s and less known as being a christian fundie, maxed out his political donation to republican candidates and PACs in 2020.”
In another post, the user wrote, “some people might be tripped up by the lone dem on that list, tulsi gabbard, but if you look at her politics the picture becomes clear. she’s a crypto-fash who’s allied with hindutva militias, pushes anti-trans bills and appeared on PragerU…”
In response to this cancellation attempt, Cawthon wrote on Reddit, “I’ve debated greatly how best to address this, including not addressing it at all, but with so many people from the LGBT community in the fanbase that I love, that’s not an option. I’d like to think that the last seven years would have given me the benefit of the doubt in regards to how I try to treat people, but there I was, trending on twitter for being a homophobe, getting doxed, with people threatening to come to my house. My wife is six weeks pregnant and she spent last night in fear because of what was being said online.”
He continued, “She has already been struggling with her pregnancy so seeing her so afraid really scared me. All this because I exercised my right, and my duty, as an American citizen, to vote for and support the candidates who I felt could best run the country, for everyone, and that’s something that I won’t apologize for.”
From there he explained the reasons why he supported the candidates he did. For Donald Trump he wrote, “I supported President Trump, because I felt he was the best man to fuel a strong economy and stand up to America’s enemies abroad, of which there are many. Even if there were candidates who had better things to say to the LGBT community directly, and bigger promises to make, I believed that their stances on other issues would have ended up doing much greater harm to those communities than good.
“All of this explanation, I fear, is wasted, as people don’t want to discuss with one another anymore; they want endless apologies and submission. People who are expecting those from me will get neither,” he added.
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Cawthon continued, “I’ve always been supportive of creators, and have tried to treat everyone fairly, and treat everyone with dignity and respect. I’ve never cared about anyone’s race, religion, gender, or orientation. I just treat people as people, everyone the same, and because of that, I’ve ended up with a very diverse group of people that I’ve worked with over the years. It wasn’t intentional. It just happened that way. I choose people who are best for the job; I treat everyone the same, and I ended up with people from all walks of life in my professional life and my personal life as well. That’s the way it should be. That’s the way I want it to be. That’s the way I will continue to be.”
“I’m a republican. I’m a Christian. I’m pro-life. I believe in God,” he declared. “I also believe in equality, and in science, and in common sense. Despite what some may say, all of those things can go together. That’s not an apology or promise to change, it’s the way it’s always been.”
He then stated, “If I get cancelled, then I get cancelled. I don’t do this for the money anymore; I do it because I enjoy it. If people think I’m doing more harm than good now, then maybe it’s better that I get cancelled and retire. I would accept that. I’ve had a fulfilling career. Besides, most things that people can take from you are things that never had much value to begin with.”
“I have always loved, and will continue to love, this community and this fanbase, even if someday it doesn’t include me anymore,” he concluded.
What do you make of Five Nights at Freddy’s box office success in the wake of Cawthon standing up to the cancel mob?
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