Category Speculation & Analysis

Nov 1 2023

The Five Nights at Freddy’s Movie Spoiler Talk!

The long-awaited live-action movie version of the classic online game Five Nights at Freddy’s or FNaF has excited fans. Unlike critics who do not understand the FNaF franchise, fans recognized how faithful the movie was to the franchise while developing its own identity. With that, it’s time for SPOILER TALK about the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie! For anyone who has not seen the FNaF film yet, you’ve been warned…

Touching upon an issue brought up earlier with my review of Five Nights at Freddy’s, some things should’ve had a little more explanation than they were given. The main reason I say this is because fans have a general idea of some characters and ideas, but to someone else, it’s a complete mystery that makes them think “Okay? So, what?” The prime culprit of this issue is none other than Golden Freddy. Sure, his spirit is very present in the movie, but the animatronic is only seen for three scenes and is never elaborated upon. That leaves me with many questions: how did he get to Abby’s house? Why is he so withered? Even if I have a general reason as to why, HOW is he still functional? Although he is only seen for two minutes, he still looks very good, and I’m very happy with the practical effects (no surprise there!).

To talk about cameos and Easter eggs, I am happy with the people they brought on! We all knew CoryxKenshin would be in the movie, playing as the taxi driver, but no one expected MatPat as a waiter, as he convinced us that the filmmakers treated him dirty. Both cameos were hilarious and I’m sure they’re both very happy that they were able to be included. The self-proclaimed “King of FNaF”, Markiplier, unfortunately had a planned cameo, but ultimately could not film a scene, as it conflicted with the filming of his own movie that is coincidentally also based on an indie horror game, Iron Lung. Talking about Easter eggs, I was genuinely shocked to see references to Five Nights at Freddy’s history in the movie. Sparky the Dog, the franchise’s first ever, fan-made hoax character had a diner named after him and possibly even an animatronic suit to himself. MatPat’s name tag also had “Ness” on it, which is a golden reference to one of his theories based off two whole different franchises where he argues that Sans from the indie game Undertale, was actually a Nintendo character named Ness from the Earthbound series. Only Scott Cawthon would be able to reference both another indie horror game AND Nintendo at the same time! I also really loved the opening credits for the music and the pixel art. They were both PERFECT for FNaF’s general vibe!

Let’s talk about secrete characters in this movie. Emma Tammi confirmed a couple of weeks ago in an interview that there was a character in the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie who was not seen in any promotional material. That begged the question, who was that character? I genuinely do not know which character it specifically was, as there were multiple featured characters. I have a list of possible characters she could’ve been talking about.

Shadow Freddy, who was seen in a hidden YouTube video made an appearance in the movie as the suit that babysitter Max gets stuffed inside after dying. I must admit I’m a little disappointed that he didn’t get any story relevance, but I probably should’ve expected that, as it probably would’ve been too early for him. Another character was Sparky the Dog (or possibly Fetch, the fan base is still working that part out). Yes, Sparky wasn’t seen in any advertising, but I think Emma would’ve been talking about a character that was important to the story, so this leaves me with two more culprits who I was able to predict in my last essay!

Balloon Boy was only seen on one of the children’s drawings, but we didn’t know if he actually would’ve made a physical appearance in the movie. Luckily, we now know the answer is yes, he appears as a troll character in the form of a mini figurine. Ironically, he was probably the character with the scariest jump scares in this entire movie, which only fuels my hate-fire for him. The last culprit, who still seems to be a mystery, is the Puppet, or sometimes referred to as the Marionette.

We have speculated that she would make an appearance in the movie, as she was the one to give the children the gift of resurrection after they were killed by William Afton, but it seems like she wasn’t included in the movie. That is until people noticed at the end of the amazing end credits that the same cryptic voice that would spell words in the FNaF 2 mini-games was included in the movie and spelled out something. I couldn’t make out what it said myself, but after close examination, (and Peacock’s subtitles), we know that it spelled “C-O-M-E F-I-N-D M-E”. As this was being spelled out, fans noticed the familiar theme of her music box playing in the background, implying the Puppet is directly speaking to Mike, prompting him to find her. This isn’t the end of this manhunt, however. After going through the movie, fans started noticing in certain scenes that you could barely make out shapes in the backgrounds that look very similar to the Puppet. The Puppet may be in the movie, but she is lurking in the background, usually on the ceilings.

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Oct 20 2023

The Five Nights At Freddy’s Movie Is Coming!

After nine long years of waiting through countless script rewrites (12 to be exact), overall restarts, company changes, and even director switches, the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie is finally upon us. In just one week, we will see the beloved animals we’ve become acquainted with on the big screen. As a fan of the online game Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF) since 2014, to say I’m excited for this movie is the understatement of the century. Jason Blum, Emma Tammi, and of course, Scott Cawthon worked tirelessly through the many road bumps of production and were determined to deliver Freddy and the gang to the big screen.

Alright, you may be wondering, “How big of a FNAF nerd is this guy?” and to that I say, be prepared. My journey started where most people did, with famous YouTuber,  Markiplier’s Five Nights at Freddy’s gameplay. I remember being frightened and Bonnie’s uncanny appearance in the thumbnail when I was only a kid (I didn’t even know he was a bunny back then, since his ears are cropped out of the frame on that video).  Since then, I’ve kept up with every game entry, piece of media, and how could anyone forget the massive waves of merchandise, good or mediocre. My room ia practically walled with many of the franchise’s posters, I have over 60ish plushies, and I have almost every book ever produced in the franchise. To say this movie was a dream come true is underexaggerating my excitement! Alright, you may be wondering, “How big of a FNAF nerd is this guy?” and to that I say, be prepared. My journey started where most people did, with famous YouTuber,  Markiplier’s Five Nights at Freddy’s gameplay. I remember being frightened and Bonnie’s uncanny appearance in the thumbnail when I was only seven (I didn’t even know he was a bunny back then, since his ears are cropped out of the frame on that video).  Since then, I’ve kept up with every game entry, piece of media, and how could anyone forget the massive waves of merchandise, good or mediocre. My room is practically walled with many of the franchise’s posters, I have over 60ish plushies, and I have almost every book ever produced in the franchise. To say this movie was a dream come true is underexaggerating my excitement!

The four main animatronics, Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy have been treated with immense care when thinking about how to translate them into real-life functioning robots and suits. They are almost ripped straight from the video games, and I couldn’t be more grateful for that. I think despite it being a horror movie, it has a major chance to stand out among great video game adaptations, alongside The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Arcane. It is projected to be the highest grossing opening for any horror film ever, which shows the power of our fan base. It’s safe to say I think we are all excited for this movie!

And of course, how could we wrap up our discussion of the FNAF movie without talking about Scott Cawthon’s upbringing. When Scott was starting off with computers, he first made direct-to-video short movies; in fact, they were Christian movies! He made a less than stellar paycheck doing this, so he eventually turned to game development. His first notable game was titled: The Desolate Hope. In this game, you play as a sentient coffee maker running through this dark and mechanical world filled with giant robots. Of course, this would be part of the inspiration for Five Nights at Freddy’s, but the true spark was with his last game before FNAF, Chipper and Sons Lumber Co.

This game was thought by most people as just okay. Some people thought it was bad however, and one person left a review that would change the course of Scott’s life. Scott was not a “great” modeler back then, so this person commented that the game was boring, and that Chipper looked like he was a scary animatronic bear and belonged in a horror game. SPARK! After this, Scott put together Five Nights at Freddy’s, which was about a security guard in a Chuck E. Cheese-type of restaurant at night who is stalked by deadly animatronic robots that came to life. Cawthon even looked to fund the game online. Unfortunately, he raised zero dollars, but of course, releasing it through self funding more than paid back for the development of the game.

Now that we’ve talked about the developer, I think it’s time to talk about what I think the story of the movie will be. Spoilers will indeed follow.

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Oct 15 2023

Daredevil Dead Again & Other MCU TV Shows Blues

Things just seem to be going from bad to worse for the Disney+ Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) TV shows. For the most part, some of the recent MCU TV shows have been poorly received by fans and critics who griped about the inconsistent tone of the episodes, half-finished scripts and poor special effects. The MCU TV shows hit their lowest point with Secret Invasion, which should have been a lot better but instead turned out to be the worst MCU presentations. There have been a lot of reports and rumors about how Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige is going out of his way to right the ship with the MCU. This has led to substantial delays and cancellation of projects. But the news last week that the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again has been essentially scrapped created a lot of concern for fans.

Daredevil: Born Again has been one of the most anticipated MCU projects since it brought back Charlie Cox as the title character. He won so much acclaim for his performance as Matt Murdock/Daredevil in the Netflix TV series Daredevil, which was about a blind superhero with enhanced senses fighting crime in Manhattan. That series ran for three seasons and was considered to be among the greatest superhero TV shows based on a Marvel Comics charater. Fans wondered if the TV show would ever be revived and saw reason to hope when Cox reprised his role in the film Spider-Man: No Way Home and the TV show She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Naturally, many were excited when Kevin Feige announced that a new Daredevil TV show was being produced by Marvel Studios.

Not a lot was known about Daredevil: Born Again other than aside from Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio would reprise his role as Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin, the brutal crime lord that rules New York’s criminal society. Supposedly, the overall plot had to do with the consequences of Fisk being elected as the mayor of New York. But there were some aspects about the show that put off fans, namely that Elden Henson and Deborah Ann Woll would not return to play their beloved characters Foggy Nelson and Karen Page. In fact, there have been leaks that both characters were killed off in Daredevil: Born Again. Also, there seemed to be an effort by the executives to not associate it with the Netflix series. This did not make sense since Daredevil was so revered and it was only logical to continue that show instead of doing a reboot given that the same lead actor was returning.

Production came to a halt with the TV show due to the writer and actors strikes, which has crippled film and TV productions this year. At the onset of the strike only a few episodes had been completed and it was supposed to have an eighteen-episode run.

Marvel Studios has been having issues with the quality of many of their projects, especially the TV shows, and this resulted in diminishing returns. As we all know, Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige had been stretched very thin by mandates by Disney to produce more product and there are only so many resources and time available to consistently produce quality products. This is how we got poorly received films and TV shows like Secret Invasion, Eternals and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Naturally, this has forced Marvel Studios to take a hard look at their current and upcoming projects and honestly assess them.

This assessment and the realization that the market was being flooded with too many films and TV shows have led to delayed releases for their projects. In some cases, projects have either been scrapped or will undergo significant revisions. Unfortunately, this included Daredevil: Born Again.

According to a report in The Hollywood Reporter, Kevin Feige reviewed what had been filmed with the new Daredevil TV show and admitted that it was not working. It was turning out to be a procedural lawyer show that de-emphasized Daredevil and Matt Murdock did not even don the Daredevil suit until the fourth episode. This has led to the dismissal of the writers and directors and the show is now back to square one.

But Daredevil: born Again is not the only casualty. It has been rumored that a planned TV show, Visionquest, based on the android hero, the Vision, has been cancelled. Echo, which has been completed and feature Daredevil, keeps being delayed because it’s supposedly not well done and Marvel Studios is trying to fix it through editing. Agatha: Darkhold Diaries also seems to be a victim of constant retinkering given that the TV show based on the witch Agatha Harkness has had so many title changes. Ironheart, has been completed for some time, yet there isn’t any clear indication of when it will stream on Disney+. Rumors for upcoming MCU projects featuring Nova, Okoye and the Silver Surfer have stopped giving the impression that they also have been scrapped.

On the one hand this implosion of MCU TV shows is cause for concern given the high reputation Marvel Studios has with fans and most critics (excepting snobs like Martin Scorsese). Some panicking fans will use this situation to declare that superhero fatigue is upon us. But that is not necessarily so. The reason for diminishing returns in metrics and box office returns is due to diminished and inferior product that is not up to par with past MCU projects. If a film or TV show is great, people will seek it out, for the most part. Look at how well some recents films and TV shows performed. These include Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, WandaVision, Loki, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Werewolf By Night. Right now, Loki, which began its second season a couple of weeks ago is removing the sting of the dismal Secret Invasion. However, it’s early for the show and it could wind up becoming an uneven disappointment. Another problem for Marvel Studios is that they do not have a lot of experience creating TV shows and it can be seen with their finished products. Most of them seem like overlong films instead of TV shows that are a different medium with a distinct method of storytelling.

On the other hand, these delays, cancellations and retoolings are a sign that Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios have acknowledged that things are not working for their projects. It is far better to course correct now with Daredevil and be willing to go back to the drawing board. Otherwise, can anyone imagine what would happen if Daredevil: Born Again turns out to be another Secret Invasion? One thing Marvel Studios should do is bring back the folks who were behind Daredevil like Drew Goddard. He and the other creatives behind Daredevil knew how to handle the character and his world, and it would reassure fans. Anyway, with less projects to deal with, Marvel Studios now has more bandwidth to ensure that they create superior films and TV shows that will be up to their usual high standards. So, while we may have to wait longer to see the full return of Daredevil, we can be comforted knowing that it will be worth the wait.

Aug 27 2023

Disney + Has Damaged Pixar, Star Wars & Marvel

When it was announced that the streaming app Disney + would feature exclusive content for their purchased intellectual properties Star Wars and Marvel, most fans were understandably excited. In the closing years of the 2010s both properties were riding high, especially Marvel with its Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The people running Disney + promised that subscribers would have access to a vast video library of its properties and that the exclusive content would be top-of-the-line when it came to quality. At first, this seemed to be the case. At first.

Shortly after Disney + became available, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which shut down theaters and the streaming platform became the only medium available to get new content based on Disney IP, Pixar, Star Wars and the MCU. Due to the pandemic many films were delayed and this happened with the Pixar films scheduled for release. At the same time, Disney was desperate to generate streaming traffic for Disney + and to gain subscribers, new product had to be available. The easiest solution was to take the delayed films like Soul and premiere them exclusively on Disney +.

For a short while, this tactic worked, but unlike the other MCU films that were released exclusively in theaters, Disney kept debuting other Pixar films like Luca and Turning Red on the streaming app. This gave the impression that the Pixar films were inferior in quality, because people began thinking that these films were not good enough for theatrical releases. Also, when the Pixar films Lightyear and Elemental actually premiered in theaters, viewers were conditioned to wait for them to come out weeks later on Disney + and save some money. To be fair other streaming apps like HBO Max did this as well, but this tactic was abandoned soon after studios realized they were losing revenue. It took Disney some time to forego premiering some of their films on the app.

The app premiered with The Mandalorian, the hit TV show set in the Star Wars universe about a Clint Eastwoodish, intergalactic bounty hunter and his infant alien ward. The Mandalorian became a huge hit and actually helped keep the Star Wars brand alive. Actually, for a couple of years it was the only Star Wars-related property for fans to watch. Obviously, Disney had to put out more Star Wars content and last year more Star Wars-related TV shows streamed on Disney +, which included The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and now Ahoska. While some of the TV shows were well received and even earned Emmy nominations, the Boba Fett show was a huge misfire with its unfocused scripts. Unfortunately, these same problems bled into the third season of The Mandalorian, and Ahsoka is receiving criticisms, as well. It is clear with The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka that Disney wants to create a more integrated universe with a part of Star Wars history: the period of time after the fall of the Galactic Empire. Reportedly the goal is to have the TV shows lead to a film that ties all the elements together. While it is ambitious and echoes what happened with the MCU, there are problems in that the Star Wars universe is becoming too convoluted. Viewers are forced to watch other shows and even animated programs like Star Wars: Rebels to fully understand what is going on with many of the Star Wars TV shows. With interest in the Star Wars brand waning, this development could not have happened at a worst time.

The problem with the scripts for some of the Star Wars TV shows also plagued the MCU TV shows. What was worse was that the production values for many MCU TV shows was shockingly poor. The MCU, like Star Wars, got off to a promising start on Disney + with TV shows like WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. But the quality of the MCU TV shows soon began to falter and it became more and more obvious that budget limitations were impacting the shows. For example, with the time travel TV show Loki, even though it was well acted and written, it seemed as if there was a lot of talking instead of showing. Instead of time traveling to pivotal events in the MCU, the main characters traveled to mundane time periods.

The problem with limited budgets affected some of the effects work on later TV shows. This was best seen with Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Secret Invasion. With She-Hulk, the limited special effects was fatal for the show because its poor, unfinished special effects left She-Hulk looking like a SIM character. The same budget limitations has severely affected Secret Invasion, which has a lot of talking scenes about world events with limited action scenes. What is even more unbelievable is that the budget for the TV show was about $200 million. Where did that money go? The budget for Secrect Invasion is not the main reason for its poor execution, it is actually due to the scripts which make the show feel small scale. This also went on with many other MCU TV shows that should have had great payoffs. This even happened with WandaVision. For the most part that show was terrific with clever scripts and acting. But the payoff at the final episode felt like a letdown with the scope of the confrontations between characters.

Disney CEO Bob Iger recently said that the market was oversaturated with Star Wars and Marvel TV shows and films, and he is correct. There was a lot of pressure for the Disney + app to have new and original content, which meant that there had to be a lot of content about two of its most popular IPs. Unfortunately, the demand stretched the capability to keep up the quality of the products in order to meet scheduling deadlines. The result was that many fans were disappointed with the finished TV shows as the brands became diluted. To correct this, the brands need to pull back and Disney is doing this as per Iger’s orders. They are giving their properties the time needed to produce quality over quantity. However, there will be more inferior TV shows until the better-produced TV shows come out.

Disney and other studios are facing a new problem with their inability to provide new content thanks to the crippling writer and acting strikes which have shut down productions for film and TV studios. As content dries up and films and TV shows get delayed again or canceled, there will be increased demand. Will the studios make the same mistakes they did earlier this decade and force creators to pump out products before they are ready? Probably, so it is up to the studios to learn from their missteps regarding their streaming platforms.

Jun 24 2023

The Flash’s Stumble Signals The End Of The DCEU

This was not supposed to happen. Even though The Flash, the latest film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), had many delays and behind-the-scenes obstacles, the solo film debut of the superfast DC hero had a lot going for it. From over-the-top praise from early screenings and the return of Michael Keaton as Batman, the film was expected to perform well in the box office when it premiered last week. Yet, here we are with the film being a massive box office flop that could not even earn $70 million in the U.S. for its opening weekend and with even more dismal earnings expected this weekend. No mistake here, folks. The limping and wounded DCEU cannot be salvaged in any form because of the failure of The Flash.

It is all too easy to blame the failure of The Flash to superhero film fatigue, but that is just an easy answer. After all, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse performed very well when they premiered earlier this year. So, what happened? It will take some time to determine what went wrong, but for now here are some reasons as to why The Flash was a dud in theaters.

Bad DCEU Reputation

Let’s face it, although the DCEU has had a few great films, too many of them had problems when it came to quality. After Shazam! In 2019, the DCEU films that followed, with the exceptions of The Suicide Squad and Zack Snyder’s Justice League, were ravaged by fans and critics. They also performed poorly in the box office, especially The Suicide Squad. In fact, the last DCEU film that was a bonafide hit was Aquaman, which was back in 2018. The recent failures gave the cinematic universe a poor reputation that caught up to it and left The Flash with an insurmountable obstacle.

Adding to the poor reputation was that The Flash starred Ezra Miller, an actor who has gotten into trouble for alleged criminal activities, a lot of it was violent. Ordinarily, Miller would have been and should have been fired from the role, but the film studio, Warner Bros. did not recast the role. Instead, the film proceeded with Miller continuing to play the title superhero because it was not financially feasible to restart production with another actor. Miller’s toxic behavior turned off many fans who refused to pay money to see the film since doing so would in a sense condone Miller’s actions.

Overhype & Missed Opportunities

With the recent failed DCEU films, The Flash was seen as the last, best hope for the DCEU. It had many hurdles to overcome, but the film’s team got through them. There was some hope for the film as early screening reactions were positive. Celebrities like Tom Cruise and Stephen King raved about the film. There was excitement over Keaton’s return and promises of cameos from past DC films and TV shows since the film dealt with the multiverse.

Unfortunately, while The Flash is one of the best DCEU offerings and a solid superhero film, it had its share of issues, such as its script. Without going too much into spoilers, why didn’t the Flash use his time travel powers to find out who killed his mother? Also, at the end of the film, it’s clear that the superhero did not learn the hard lesson about interfering with time based on what he did at the end.

Also, some of the special effects were downright awful. How bad? Arrowverse bad! Speaking of the Arrowverse, it is puzzling why the film did not feature an appearance by Grant Gustin, who played the Flash for several years on TV or even John Wesley Shipp, who played the superhero in the early ‘90s. In the TV version of The Flash, Ezra Miller appeared briefly and met the Grant Gustin version of the Flash. So, why wasn’t Gustin in the film?

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