The Five Nights at Freddy's movie has been met with several roadblocks which have delayed production of the horror franchise's first movie adaptation. Warner Bros. Studios first announced a FNAF movie way back in April 2015, but Five Nights at Freddy's has since been hindered by several factors, including crew changes and drastic script alterations. Five Nights at Freddy's is now expected to be released in October 2023 but has been shaped by this string of various setbacks.
Cawthon was not specific about the problems or roadblocks the Five Nights at Freddy's movie faced between April 2015 and January 2017, other than the movie being stuck in development hell. But Cawthon has stated that from he would retain much greater control moving forward, suggesting that Cawthon was dissatisfied with the Five Nights at Freddy's scripts proposed by Warner Bros. Cawthon then set to writing a FNAF script that he himself would be pleased with, with somewhat mixed results.
However, by November 2018 Cawthon was still not satisfied with the story and completely scrapped his own script . Despite receiving approval from Chris Columbus and from Blumhouse's founder Jason Blum, Cawthon decided that he had another idea he preferred and took full responsibility for the delay. After three years of writing and development, the Five Nights at Freddy's movie was once again back at stage one.
This was the biggest blow to production considering Columbus's impressive history with child-oriented horror franchises such as Gremlins. No explanation for Columbus's departure from Five Nights at Freddy's has thus far been given. In an attempt to reassure audiences in the wake of Columbus's departure, Jason Blum clarified that Cawthon would have "final cut" of the Five Nights at Freddy's movie and its script.