Five Nights at Freddy's Movie Red Eyes Animatronics Controversy

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Part of a series on Five Nights At Freddy's (2023 Movie). [View Related Entries]

Overview

The Five Nights at Freddy's Movie Red Eyes Animatronics Controversy or FNAF Red Eyes Controversy refers to online criticism and memes revolving around the depiction of red eyes on the animatronic characters in the Five Nights at Freddy's movie trailer and poster. The first trailer was released in May 2023 and quickly inspired backlash on sites including Twitter and Reddit, with some fans posting redesigns of the animatronics to have more game-accurate or scary eyes as opposed to the red, glowing eyes shown in the trailer. It also inspired memes about the situation, including some suggesting the animatronics look like they're high on marijuana.

Background

On May 16th, 2023, the official poster for the Five Nights at Freddy's movie was posted to Twitter^[1] by @jason_blum, featuring the animatronics with red, glowing eyes, garnering over 206,000 likes in three days (shown below).

That same day, the teaser trailer for the movie was released, garnering over 14 million views on YouTube^[2] in three days. At the 00:39-second mark, as the protagonist is hiding from the animatronics in a ball pit, the animatronics are seen with red, glowing eyes (shown below).

The trailer and poster sparked backlash the day it was released (May 16th) on sites including Twitter and the /r/fivenightsatfreddys subreddit for the red eyes on the animatronics. For example, numerous comments were posted on the trailer's discussion thread on /r/fivenightsatfreddys,^[3] some calling them corny. That day, Twitter^[4] user @Coolio_Art posted a screenshot from the trailer, writing, "This looks HALARIOUS […] Red eyes and angry eyebrows?? Tell me this doesn't look straight out of a 2017 sfm. This definitely doesn't look like a serious horror movie haha," garnering over 2,400 likes in three days (shown below).

Developments

The May 16th, 2023, trailer continued to receive backlash for the red eyes over the following days, inspiring calls for them to re-edit them, fan redesigns of the eyes and memes. For example, on May 17th, Twitter^[5]^[6] users @BonecutterBlake and @thisisacomputah posted re-edits of the trailer replacing the red eyes, garnering over 1,800 likes and 5,400 likes, respectively, in two days. On the same day, YouTuber^[7] LetsDrawLobstArs posted a re-edit that gained over 360,000 views in two days (shown below).

Some viewers on Twitter^[8] and Reddit^[9] defended the red eyes, acknowledging that the animatronics do appear with red glowing eyes in various pieces of FNAF media. On May 17th, Twitter^[10] user @DailyPopgoes posted a screenshot from the trailer and criticized those complaining, writing, "'The red eyes ruined the FNaF movie!!!' Okay more seats in the theater for me," garnering over 18,000 likes in two days (shown below, left). On May 19th, Twitter^[11] user @FNAFMovieUpdate made a post explaining the logic behind the red eyes, garnering over 21,000 likes in under a day (shown below, right).

Memes

FNAF Animatronics Smoking Weed

As criticism continued to build, users on the /r/fivenightsatfreddys^[12]^[13]^[14] subreddit began posting memes and fan art of the animatronics smoking weed in reference to the red eyes (examples shown below).