‘Five Nights At Freddy’s’ Movie Updates: Director Gil Kenan wants real Animatronics instead of special effects, reveals film to have separate storyline from games

By Staff Writer

Aug 08 2015, 06:14 AM EDT

'Fight Nights At Freddy's' director Gil Kenan admitted that he would use real animatronics instead of special effects for the upcoming film and revealed that its storyline may be separate from that of the games'.

Kenan responded to curious fans on his social media accounts regarding his plans for the upcoming live-action adaptation of Scott Cawthon's horror survival game. In a compilation by Kotaku, Kenan revealed that he is looking at using real animatronics as opposed to employing CGI effects.

He posted a sneak preview of one lifelike robot in the works on his Instagram account. These animatronics will be assembled at the Henson Creature Shop. He said, "I want this to be crazy practical - that's what makes animatronics so unnerving - they're REAL."

He also commented on several remarks on Twitter that pleaded to him not to make a disappointment out of the game franchise saying that he believed in the depth of Cawthon's original storyline and that he was a big fan of FNAF himself.

Several Twitter users went on to ask Kenan about what to expect from the movie. He said that he was working with Cawthon to weave a story that was unheard of before while staying true to the games' "mythology". It would also involve more than one location although he couldn't say for sure as he was still in the process of writing it.

According to Nerd Reactor, the use of animatronics had been quite popular in Hollywood as seen on Steven Spielberg's films such as 'E.T.' and 'Jurassic Park'. Unfortunately, this filmmaking strategy had long been overrun by the more popular computer-generated special effects.

It was only two weeks ago when Deadline reported that Kenan signed in to direct and co-write 'Five Nights At Freddy's'. The filmmaker is well known for his previous works including the 2008 adaptation of Jeanne Duprau's 'City of Ember' as well as the newly released horror flick 'Poltergeist'. One of his earlier films, 'Monster House', was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 2006 Academy Awards.

'Five Nights At Freddy's' is an upcoming horror movie inspired by the popular independent point-and-click horror survival game of the same name. It features several murderous animatronic villains set in various locations throughout the four-part series.