Five Nights At Freddy’s movie discussion has spiked since Harry Potter’s Chris Columbus was announced as the film’s director Monday afternoon. In a rare reddit dialogue, franchise creator Scott Cawthon responded to rumors about the project’s PG-13 age rating and sexual content warnings.
The topic surfaced on Tuesday when fans discovered a series of suspicious listings on the Five Nights At Freddy’s Parents Guide IMDB page. The classification includes five citations for sexual content, drug references, profanity and various subcategories of violence. Specific descriptions feature “blueprints of a stripper character,” boys reading a pornographic magazine and appearances of animatronic breasts. With this alleged content in mind, the film’s suggested MPAA rating is listed as PG-13.
Most of that content sounds inconsistent with the Five Nights At Freddy’s books and games, and Cawthon took to the franchise’s subreddit to confirm as much. “None of these details from IMDB are accurate,” he confirmed Tuesday evening. “As everyone else is pointing out, details on that page can be edited by almost anyone.”
In other words, while IMDB is generally considered a trustworthy source for movie information once a film has released, fans should be skeptical about details posted there before a project is made public. Columbus was just attached to the Five Nights At Freddy’s movie earlier this week, so it’s highly unlikely his script is complete enough to contain the very specific instances listed on the IMDB page. If a teaser for the film hasn’t even been released yet, there’s almost no way those classifications could be accurate. Like many forms of entertainment, ratings for movies are typically one of the last requirements to be met before a wide release.
Debate surrounding the rating of the Five Nights At Freddy’s movie has been ongoing since it was first announced in 2015. A franchise in which child murder is a recurring theme, it also has a large audience of young fans who flocked to the series for its kid-friendly character designs. In fact, the controversially cute aesthetic of the FNaF World RPG seems perfectly angled to appeal to that youthful audience.
In terms of figuring out a rating, there are two very different ways the Five Nights At Freddy’s movie could go. The film’s violent content could be toned down to appeal to tweens, or it could potentially be the first time fans see the true brutality of these animatronics in action. It’s hard to determine the direction of Columbus’ script, but with Blumhouse Productions at the helm, we’d be inclined to think the its atmosphere will relish in the dark, grungy and bloody. Just take a look at the studio’s past projects, like Get Out and Split, for reference.
Lots of factors determine a film’s final rating, and we won’t have one for the Five Nights At Freddy’s movie until its release date is much closer.
Five Nights At Freddy’s games are available now on PC and mobile devices.
What should the Five Nights At Freddy’s movie be rated? Should it appeal to young adults or go for an R rating instead? Tell us in the comments section!
