The Five Nights at Freddy's movie has lost its director.
"Chris Columbus is no longer attached," producer Jason Blum confirmed to Collider, without revealing if another director had taken Columbus's place. The director was first announced to be writing and helming the film back in 2018. His filmography includes the first two Home Alone movies, as well as two Harry Potter installments.
"We've written multiple scripts, and we've got where we're threading a needle, which is doing justice to Five Nights at Freddy's and making [creator] Scott [Cawthon] happy. The only way that we would go about it is giving Scott... I don't want to do something that Scott doesn't like," Blum added. "Let me say that a different way. I don't have the right to do anything Scott doesn't like. Basically, Scott has kind of like the equivalent of 'final cut' and it's taken longer than I hoped to get the right story."
The original video game sees you play as a security guard on the night shift at restaurant Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. The animatronic animals decorating the restaurant come to life at night, and you must hold them off as they come for you in your office. Since the first game, the story of the franchise has massively expanded, so there's plenty of material for the eventual film adaptation to draw from.
The last update on the movie was given by Cawthon himself on Reddit, who listed previous failed versions of the movie's script, before revealing he was happy with one and the film was due to start shooting in spring 2021. It seems the project has hit a roadblock since then.
But, if you're waiting on the movie, you shouldn't be too disappointed. "We're a long way from giving up. And I'm confident eventually I will figure it out," Blum said.
While we wait for more Five Nights at Freddy's news, check out our guide to all of 2021's upcoming major movie release dates.
