Josh Hutcherson Battles Evil Animatronics Once More in 'Five Nights at Freddy's 2' Full Trailer
On Thursday, July 24, Universal Pictures debuted the full trailer for Five Nights at Freddy's 2, a sequel to the horror-video-game adaptation that became a box-office hit in 2023.
Josh Hutcherson and Elizabeth Lail return for the new installment that, based on the trailer, could be delivering even more sinister scares than its predecessor.
Directed once again by Emma Tammi, the second installment "begins a blood-chilling new chapter of animatronic terror," according to a logline. Another line adds, "Anyone can survive five nights. This time, there will be no second chances."
"One year has passed since the supernatural nightmare at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza," a synopsis reads. "The stories about what transpired there have been twisted into a campy local legend, inspiring the town's first ever Fazfest. "
Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories.
"Former security guard Mike (Hutcherson, 32) and police officer Vanessa (Lail, 33) have kept the truth from Mike's 11-year-old sister, Abby (Piper Rubio), concerning the fate of her animatronic friends," the synopsis continues.
It concludes, "But when Abby sneaks out to reconnect with Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy, it will set into motion a terrifying series of events, revealing dark secrets about the true origin of Freddy's, and unleashing a long-forgotten horror hidden away for decades."
The first film followed Hutcherson's Mike as he took on a sketchy job as a night security guard at an abandoned theme restaurant called Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria.
He hopes the gig will help him keep custody of his younger sister — but, as a synopsis explains, the job "instead drags him into the black heart of a supernatural nightmare."
is now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more!
Five Nights at Freddy's 2 also sees the return of Matthew Lillard as William Afton and Theodus Crane as Jeremiah, with new cast additions including Freddy Carter, Wayne Knight, Mckenna Grace and Lillard's friend and Scream costar Skeet Ulrich.
In 2023, director Tammi, 43, told Variety of expanding the Freddy's franchise, "We're definitely excited to keep making more movies in this world, should we be lucky enough to do that."
"This one was tied into the first game, and we would probably focus on tying the second one into the second game, and so on and so forth. But anything could happen," she added. "We'll have to see."
Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is in theaters Dec. 5.
Read the original article on People
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Horror's middle class is vanishing – and that's bad news for all film fans
Does no one want to watch people get butchered any more? Horror, long recognised as one of Hollywood's most reliable cash cows, is in a panic: few scary movies are breaking through financially in 2025, many more are cratering completely, and questions are being asked about the future of a genre that once seemed as durable as Jason Voorhees. Forget the death of the archetypal movie star: if sassy psycho-cyborg M3GAN can't open a movie, who can? Back in 2022, the first M3GAN – about an artificially intelligent doll with a bloodthirst – grossed $182m (£135m), including $78m of pure profit for its backers at Universal Pictures and the micro-budget horror studio Blumhouse, off a production budget of just $12m. Thanks to smart marketing, which turned its leading lady's incongruous dancefloor skills into a spooky meme, M3GAN ended up exemplifying the dream outcome of the modern studio horror film: low-cost, big-brain thrills with such inescapable dazzle that audiences couldn't not seek it out. Why, then, did last month's M3GAN 2.0 go so badly? In four weeks, the more action-oriented sequel has grossed a measly $38m worldwide, a result so mortifying that the head of Blumhouse put his hands up within days of its release and admitted to having totally missed the mark. M3GAN 2.0 isn't alone, either. This year has seen a staggering number of horror films die at the box office, among them Blumhouse's reboot of Wolf Man ($34m gross on a production budget of $20m), the Ayo Edebiri horror comedy Opus ($2m gross/$10m budget), Jenna Ortega vehicle Death of a Unicorn ($16m gross/$15m budget), the well-received adoption chiller Bring Her Back ($23m gross/$15m budget), and last week's revival of the Nineties hit I Know What You Did Last Summer, which opened to a flat $13m in the US. Yes, these films' production budgets are lean (though the extent of marketing budgets is largely kept under lock and key), and many of the above titles will ultimately break even once video-on-demand grosses are factored in – but none of their respective backers will be happy with what amounts to loose change. On the other end of the spectrum, meanwhile, are this year's handful of out-and-out horror smashes, most significantly the Michael B Jordan vampire film Sinners, which cost a reported $100m to make but has grossed $365m. There's also been Final Destination: Bloodlines ($285m and counting on a budget of $50m) and Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later, which has so far grossed $145m on a budget of $60m – not wildly profitable, by any means, but decent enough. So people are still going to see horror on the big screen, but – echoing the Western world as a whole – horror's middle class is evaporating. The genre seems to either go big or collapse entirely. Any kind of financial in-between is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. All this leaves a film such as next week's Weapons carrying undue levels of pressure. A missing-persons thriller starring Julia Garner and Josh Brolin, it revolves around the disappearance of a class of children in small-town USA, and serves as filmmaker Zach Cregger's follow-up to his 2022 sleeper hit Barbarian. Promotion for the film has been strong – lots of abstract and eerie imagery in trailers, and attempts at virality via the publishing of two hours of 'surveillance footage' from the night of the children's 'disappearance'. But the stakes feel particularly high. Weapons sparked a bidding war between rival studios when Cregger first unveiled his script, with Warner Bros so eager to get the up-and-comer on side that they coughed up a $38m budget for the film, and allowed him final cut. If Weapons underperforms, this kind of investment in a young, ambitious filmmaker's original ideas may become even rarer than it is already. Why this is bad for everyone is that, in the last decade or so, horror has been one of the few genres to wholeheartedly embrace fresh ideas and fresh voices. The likes of Jordan Peele's Get Out (2017), Coralie Fargeat's The Substance (2024), Ari Aster's Hereditary (2018) and Robert Eggers's The Witch (2015) proved that audiences will turn out in droves for intriguing new concepts, no matter how wild they might seem on paper – and in the process, an entire generation of buzzy new filmmakers developed fanbases, industry clout, and (relative) name recognition. Speaking to The Town podcast shortly after M3GAN 2.0 bombed, Blumhouse head Jason Blum suggested that there is simply too much horror being released for many films to break through, and that the cheap-to-produce movies that were Blumhouse's bread and butter (their biggest hits have included Get Out, Us, The Invisible Man and the Purge franchise) no longer cut it. 'We need to up the budgets,' he insisted. 'People need theatrical events.' Which is, I suppose, accurate. This year's most successful horror films had heavy promotional spends behind them, while even the most financially lucrative horrors of 2024 – meaning the low-cost, high-return likes of The Substance and Oz Perkins's Silence of the Lambs pastiche Longlegs – were transformed into must-see 'events' via relentless and effective marketing. But just as important is the actual quality of material on offer, with far too many modern horror movies settling for tedious mining of intellectual property and repetitive premises (Knives Out and Midsommar have created an unfortunate cottage industry of star-studded, eat-the-rich, religious-cult disappointments). Blumhouse have been particularly guilty of this over the last 18 months, tossing out a raft of movies that felt as if they were formed backwards from an already unimpressive elevator pitch: Night Swim (haunted pool!); AfrAId (haunted Alexa device!); House of Spoils (Ariana DeBose!). Things may, however, be looking up. As much as it pains me to slander a film that made smart use of Nineties stalwarts Freddie Prinze Jr and Jennifer Love Hewitt, it is something of a relief that I Know What You Did Last Summer couldn't get people in cinema seats last week. A largely serviceable but poorly directed slasher pastiche, the film may have lifted the story beats and faces from the 1997 original, but it failed at the things that truly matter: character development, suspense, memorable chase sequences. It seemed to prove that, when it comes to horror, box-office success in 2025 requires far more than just dusting off some old IP and hoping for the best. Hollywood does have a knack for taking all the wrong lessons from its success stories. (Just look at how Barbie's gargantuan box office has led to the development of loads of other movies about toys.) But wouldn't it be lovely if the triumph of Sinners sparked an influx of expensive, original horror movies moving forward – and not, well, Sinners 2. 'Weapons' is released 8 August
Buzz Feed
3 days ago
- Buzz Feed
29 Actors Who Were Cast At The Very Last Second
Recently, Reddit user ValoNoctis asked about last-minute casting that saved a movie, and I can't believe some of these actors almost didn't play these iconic roles. Here are actors who came in at the eleventh hour and killed it. Director Quentin Tarantino struggled to find the right actor to play Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds. On the podcast The Moment With Brian Koppelman, Tarantino said the movie was already in pre-production, and they hadn't cast the role — which was a problem, as Tarantino had decided to shelve the project for a few years if he couldn't find the perfect actor. "It's Tuesday morning, and by Friday, Universal Pictures sign the check, and now we're making the movie for Universal. And I know if I'm gonna pull the plug, I've gotta pull it before Thursday," he revealed. On Wednesday, Christoph Waltz auditioned, and Tarantino immediately knew he'd found his Landa. Waltz would end up winning an Oscar for his portrayal. Suggested by u/bvmse Gene Wilder wanted the role of Jim in Blazing Saddles, but director Mel Brooks thought he was too young. "I need an older guy — someone who could look like an over-the-hill alcoholic," he told Wilder. He went with Gig Young, who was known to struggle with alcoholism in real life, which Brooks thought would work well with the character. However, on the very first morning of filming, Young was dealing with alcohol withdrawal — which was made worse by the fact that his character was upside-down. "We draped Gig Young's legs over and hung him upside down. And he started to talk and he started shaking." At first, Brooks thought this was just great acting. Suggested by u/hedbopper But..."The shaking never stopped, and green stuff started spewing out of his mouth and nose, and he started screaming." Brooks said he learned his lesson not to cast someone with alcoholism as a character with alcoholism: "I said, 'That's the last time I'll ever cast anybody who really is that person.'" He continued, "Poor Gig Young, it was the first shot on Friday, nine in the morning, and an ambulance came and took him away. I had no movie." Brooks quickly called up Wilder, who flew out the next day to film. They were shooting again on Monday. Wilder ended up being perfect for the role, cementing the movie in comedy history. Another actor who was replaced after filming started? Harvey Keitel in Apocalypse Now. He actually shot for a full week before being recast. The film's director, Francis Ford Coppola, apparently felt he wasn't right for the role, and also that Keitel was uncomfortable filming in the jungle (which Keitel has disputed). Coppola convinced Martin Sheen to take the role instead — he'd originally wanted Sheen for the role, but he was unavailable. Sheen's performance would end up being the most memorable part of the film. Suggested by u/congo66 Joaquin Phoenix was originally cast as the lead in Split, but dropped out only weeks before filming began. James McAvoy stepped in to play the role and said he only had two weeks to prepare. While Phoenix obviously is a talented actor, McAvoy's performance was stellar, garnering critical acclaim — one reviewer called it "the performance of his career." Suggested by u/ralo229 Tim Colceri spent weeks rehearsing for his role as a drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket, with director Stanley Kubrick continuously telling him shooting would begin the next day, then not following through. Eventually, Colceri was given a letter by Kubrick stating he had been recast with R. Lee Ermey. Ermey, a Vietnam War veteran, had been initially hired as a technical consultant on the film. However, he won Kubrick over with an unsolicited audition tape, earning the role over Colceri, who had been cast eight months earlier. Ermey knocked it out of the park, with the scene of him yelling at the recruits — which was half improvised — becoming one of the most memorable parts of the film. Colceri was cast in a smaller role. Suggested by u/Alteredego619 Paul Dano only had about four days to prepare for his role as Eli in There Will Be Blood. He had already been cast as Paul, and Kel O'Neill had been cast as Eli (who was not initially Paul's brother). In fact, O'Neill had already filmed for weeks. However, O'Neill did not work well with the director, Paul Thomas Anderson, so Anderson decided to give Dano the additional role and make the characters twins. "I just went for it, threw myself in there and gave it everything I had," Dano said. "That was just guts and instinct, not a lot of preparation. ... I had to cut loose and go for it," he said. Dano was nominated for a BAFTA for his role as the twins. Suggested by u/MrAldoRayne Director John Carpenter was unsure about casting Kurt Russell as R.J. MacReady in The Thing and only decided on him the day they flew out to film the movie. There's actually a scene where MacReady flies a helicopter that's not even Russell — it's a pilot in the character's costume because they didn't have Russell on hand yet. The film ended up being one of Russell's best roles. Dianna Agron was cast the day before the pilot for Glee began shooting. Producers were actually about to cut her character as they hadn't found someone for the role — and her casting ended up vastly changing how they envisioned the character. Series creator Ryan Murphy said Agron "ruined the part" for him because she "humanized" Quinn. "She can cry at the drop of a hat. So now her character has a conscience, a soul, and great vulnerability." Murphy was right; Agron imbued the character with a complexity that elevated the role beyond a basic cheerleader role. Viggo Mortensen was cast after production began for The Lord of the Rings. He replaced Stuart Townsend, who was deemed too young for the role and fired the day before filming began. "I felt unprepared," Mortensen revealed. "The other actors had been there for weeks and months, in some cases, preparing for the arduous task of shooting the whole trilogy. I also felt awkward because I'd never been in a position of replacing another actor." Despite his fears, Mortensen killed it in the role. Suggested by u/revdon Stuart Townsend was also replaced in Thor just days before the start of filming. Josh Dallas was cast in the role instead after "creative differences" (though there were rumors Townsend had been late for a screen test and was fired), and he only had a few days before he had to film. Nevertheless, he did well in the small role. Stanley Tucci similarly replaced another actor days before production began. After Ryan Gosling was cast in The Lovely Bones, he started drinking melted ice cream and gained 60 pounds because he "really believed he should be 210 pounds." However, he didn't communicate this to director Peter Jackson, who "had a different idea of how the character should look." When Gosling showed up on set to film, Jackson fired him. Tucci was cast in the role instead, and was the perfect level of creepy. Peter Jackson's wife and collaborator Fran Walsh said it was more Gosling's youth that led to him being ousted, saying Gosling believed he was too young for the role and "was so uncomfortable moving forward, and we began to feel he was not right." Speaking of Tucci, he accepted his role in The Devil Wears Prada only 72 hours before the start of shooting. "I was cast at the 11th hour," Tucci told Entertainment Weekly. "But it was just such a beautiful piece of writing, and there's no way that you could ever say no to such a thing. ... It touched you emotionally. It's the perfect Hollywood movie." Today, it's one of Tucci's most beloved roles. Over 40 women auditioned to play Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Louise Fletcher eventually nabbed the part — days before filming began. "It's a miracle I survived the first day. I was so scared. It was only later that I realized that everybody was scared," she said. Fletcher earned an Oscar for her portrayal. Michael Garza was cast as Ramón Morales in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark only "a couple of days before filming" because writer/producer Guillermo del Toro and director Andre Ovredal couldn't find someone they wanted for the role. "It was a last-minute audition, and I got it. It was crazy, a whirlwind of emotions," Garza revealed. Garza was nominated for an Imagen Award for his portrayal. A week before Prison Break began shooting, it didn't have either of its leads. Wentworth Miller was cast only a week before shooting. And Dominic Purcell wasn't officially cast until three days prior to filming. Both actors were perfect for the role and contributed to the show lasting five seasons. Similarly, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw, who played two of the leading roles in Jaws, were cast only nine days before shooting began. Both earned critical acclaim for their performances. Michael J. Fox was cast in Back to the Future five weeks after it started filming. Eric Stoltz had initially been cast in the role and even filmed for multiple weeks before director Robert Zemeckis and writer Bob Gale decided he didn't have the right comedic tone for Marty. They decided to replace him with Fox, their first choice for the role. However, they couldn't do this right away (Fox was still busy shooting Family Ties) and continued to film with Stoltz for days knowing they wouldn't use the footage. It ended up becoming Fox's most memorable role. Suggested by u/Drewp655321 Sam Waterston was cast in Godless at the last minute because the actor who was supposed to play Marshal John Cook got sick. He only had four days to prepare for the role — yet he killed it in the critically acclaimed series. Chris Sheffield was cast in The Maze Runner so late that the director, Wes Ball, and the producers for the film were already in Louisiana, preparing the production. A few days later, Sheffield was heading to Louisiana, too, to shoot, crafting a strong performance despite his lack of preparation. David Hayman was cast days before Bull started shooting because the original actor had dropped out. "I had no time to think about it," Hayman revealed. "I love Paul Andrew Williams's work. His movies and work are challenging. I love the cast. So it was a no-brainer for me to do it." Hayman's performance was highly praised in reviews. Patrick Renna was the last actor cast in The Sandlot after another actor dropped out only two days before production started on location. Director David Mickey Evans called meeting Renna a "godsend" as he was perfect for the role. Michael Biehn was cast in Aliens weeks into filming, as James Remar had recently been fired after getting arrested for drug possession. According to Biehn, Aliens producer Gale Anne Hurd called him on a Friday and asked if he had a current passport — which, luckily, he did. By Monday, he was on set, giving a legendary performance. Suggested by u/jayseventwo Ed Harris was cast to play Christof in The Truman Show when principal photography was almost done, and shot for only 10 days. He replaced Dennis Hopper, who left the cast due to "creative differences." Harris was nominated for an Oscar for the role. In a pretty unprecedented move, Christopher Plummer was cast in All the Money in the World AFTER the film had been entirely shot. Replacing Kevin Spacey in the wake of his sexual assault allegations, Plummer reshot all of Spacey's scenes in just nine days. He was nominated for an Oscar for his work on the film. Suggested by u/boringwhitecollar Similarly, Tobey Maguire had already filmed all of his scenes for Life of Pi when the director decided to replace him because he was too famous, making his presence distracting. Rafe Spall was quickly cast in Maguire's role, putting him in the rare position of being cast AFTER a movie was technically "complete," though, of course, he had to reshoot all of Maguire's scenes. This was probably the right decision, as I can't picture Maguire in this role. Ben Whishaw was cast as the voice of the titular teddy bear in Paddington after the film was shot. Colin Firth had initially taken on the role but came to a mutual agreement with producers that his voice sounded too mature. "That was a bit scary because it was late in the process. We'd shot the film, but it was the right call," recalled producer David Heyman. Firth's exit was in June, and the film was set to come out in November. Luckily, since Whishaw was just providing a voice, they could still finish the movie for its November release. Paddington would end up becoming critically acclaimed, with Whishaw's voice fitting perfectly. The same happened with Scarlett Johansson in Her. Samantha Morton had originally been cast and worked on set throughout filming. While editing during post-production, director Spike Jonze "realized that what the character/movie needed was different from what Samantha and I had created together." They recast Johansson in the role in the 11th hour, re-recording the character's dialogue. Johansson's voice ended up being a much better fit for the role. And finally, Dougray Scott was originally meant to play Wolverine in the first X-Men film, but issues relating to Scott's role in Mission Impossible II forced him to drop out just as they were about to start shooting. Hugh Jackman — who had first auditioned for the role nine months earlier — took on the role at the 11th hour and was unprepared. In fact, Jackman said that they had to push back the first scene he was meant to shoot, which was a shirtless scene, because he needed time to bulk up. Jackman's performance would end up being one of the most memorable of his career. Suggested by u/Fun-Contribution-601 What do you think? Were these actors the right choice? How did they do considering they had no prep time? Let us know in the comments!
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
2025's Most Anticipated Horror Sequel Just Got Its First Trailer, And It Might Be Even Scarier
Universal Studios and Blumhouse Productions just released the trailer for their latest horror sequel. Five Nights at Freddy's 2 will reintroduce Josh Hutcherson as a security guard named Mike from the first film. A year after the events of the first movie, Mike and his friends are still reeling from the horrors at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza shop. Meanwhile, locals have turned "Fazfest" into a popular town legend. And Mike's 11-year-old sister Abby, played by Piper Rubio, is "revealing dark secrets about the true origin of Freddy's, and unleashing a long-forgotten horror hidden away for decades" Hutcherson says the sequel will be scarier than the first movie. "We're finding the balance right now of building this world and expanding it in a really cool way but also making sure the characters stay really grounded," he said in October. "That's something that I really think that we all fought for in the first film, because this world that was created in Five Nights at Freddy's, it's so out-there." The movie series was adapted from Scott Cawthorn's hit success video game. On a budget of $20 million, the first movie grossed nearly $300 million. "It's so over-the-top and wacky, in a way, that to find the emotional truth of the characters was gonna be what was gonna work. I think the fans are gonna flip for it. It's gonna be a lot of fun with the source. It's gonna be scarier, too, actually," said Hutcherson. Who will star in Five Nights at Freddy's 2? Hutcherson returns alongside co-stars Theodus Crane as Jeremiah and Matthew Lillard as William Afton, plus a handful of new faces. When does Five Nights at Freddy's 2 come out? Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is set to release on December 5, 2025. 2025's Most Anticipated Horror Sequel Just Got Its First Trailer, And It Might Be Even Scarier first appeared on Men's Journal on Jul 24, 2025 Solve the daily Crossword
