The blood-soaked animatronics of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza are getting a shiny new upgrade behind the scenes. In a bid to give their wildly lucrative cash cow a bit more narrative bite, Blumhouse and Atomic Monster have officially tapped horror heavyweight Gary Dauberman to pen the script for the next Five Nights at Freddy’s installment.
If anyone knows how to turn creepy dolls and supernatural entities into box office gold, it’s Dauberman. The modern horror maestro already has his fingerprints all over the genre’s biggest goldmines. He penned the scripts for mega-hits like It, Annabelle, and The Nun.
A Billion-Dollar Jump-Scare Machine
To say the FNAF franchise has been printing money would be a massive understatement. The series, built on Josh Hutcherson surviving the night shift against haunted, oversized restaurant mascots, has been an absolute powerhouse for Blumhouse.
The 2023 original shocked the industry by grossing a massive $297.2 million globally on a measly $20 million budget. The 2025 sequel, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, netted $239.6 million on a $36 million price tag.
Both films were closely guided by the video game’s original creator, Scott Cawthon. He co-wrote the first and took solo writing duties on the second. However, while fans rushed the theaters in droves, critics treated the movies like a plate of stale pizza. Neither film was embraced by reviewers, meaning Dauberman’s high-caliber horror pedigree might finally provide the franchise with reviews that are a little less grisly than the onscreen body count.
Blumhouse’s Summer of Redemption
Landing Dauberman caps off a massive redemption arc for Blumhouse and Atomic Monster. While the studio endured a rocky 2025 filled with underperforming misfires like Wolf Man and M3GAN 2.0—saved only by the modest success of The Black Phone 2—2026 has seen the horror titan roar back to life. Thanks to summer blockbusters Obsession and Backrooms dominating the box office, the studio is back on top of the food chain.
Bringing Dauberman into Freddy’s house of horrors proves Blumhouse isn’t just resting on its laurels. With a proven hitmaker at the typewriter, Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 might deliver a script that’s as sharp as Foxy’s hook.
