One of the decade’s biggest box office surprises is getting a sequel this week

The sequel will be available to watch from Friday.

The original centred around Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson - The Beekeeper, The Hunger Games), a troubled security guard struggling to hold down a job.

Desperate to find work so that he could continue to be the guardian for his young sister, Abbey (Piper Rubio), he accepted a position guarding a once-successful but now abandoned family entertainment centre named Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.

While Mike initially thought the job would be easy, it soon became clear that beneath the welcoming facade of Freddy Fazbear's and its many fun animatronic mascots lay dark secrets.

Directed by Emma Tammi (The Wind) and co-written by the video game's creator Scott Cawthon, the initial Five Nights at Freddy's was not loved by the majority of critics. That said, it did prove to be a massive hit at the box office, grossing nearly $300 million on a reported $20 million budget.

This made it the highest-grossing horror of 2023 and the highest-grossing movie worldwide to date for the renowned film production company Blumhouse.

As such, they quickly greenlit a sequel.

The plot synopsis for the follow-up reads:

"Now, a shocking new chapter of animatronic terror begins... One year has passed since the supernatural nightmare at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. The stories about what transpired there have been twisted into a campy local legend, inspiring the town’s first-ever Fazfest.

"Former security guard Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and police officer Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail, Netflix's You) have kept the truth from Mike’s 11-year-old sister, Abby (Piper Rubio), concerning the fate of her animatronic friends.

"But when Abby sneaks out to reconnect with Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy, it will set into motion a terrifying series of events, revealing dark secrets about the true origin of Freddy’s, and unleashing a long-forgotten horror hidden away for decades."

JOE has not seen Five Nights at Freddy's 2 yet, but we did get a chance to talk to its star, Josh Hucherson, and its director, Emma Tammi, ahead of the sequel's release.

Both said they were taken by "surprise" in terms of just how much of a box office success the original was, and that they were glad to get a chance to delve deeper into the franchise's world with this follow-up.

Hutcherson told us: "Look, when we made Freddy's 1, we knew that there was a massive fan base and that they were crazy for the games, and we just hoped that they would show up in a big way for the film, and they did.

"It was a big surprise that it was that successful, honestly, especially, [because] it's weird. It's a weird world that I think is very unique... It's a horror video game.

"To see it connect with audiences in that big of a way, I think it's so cool... I was very happy with the success.

"For me, I think that after doing the Hunger Games and learning what it means to be a part of something that has a rabid fan base, it's intense.

"But I think that when you get the chance to be a part of something that people love on such a hardcore level, it's an amazing feeling.

"To see that people responded to Freddy's 1 the way they did, and to know how happy they're going to be seeing Freddy's 2, it just feels good to be a part of something that's going to have that wide of an audience."

In the early 2000s, Tammi worked as an intern for legendary filmmaker Robert Altman (Gosford Park, M*A*S*H). This was before she had her directing breakthrough with the 2018 horror western The Wind, which most likely played a part in her securing the gig helming the first Freddy's movie.

Indeed, she still thinks of the original as "an indie of sorts" and that the sequel presented a chance to go "much bigger", while still capturing the "intimate and nostalgic" quality of Freddy's 1.

Tammi told JOE: "The games were huge, the franchise was huge, obviously, coming into making the first movie. But we didn't know if the movie would be huge.

"So in a lot of respects, starting on movie one did still feel like an indie of sorts. Not quite exactly an indie, but it still felt like it had the spirit of an indie, and I actually say that in a really positive way.

"I think Scott Cawthon [now sole writer on the sequel], especially, has always said: 'This needs to feel like an organic extension of the game and the novels. It can't feel like a studio film because that's going to alienate the fan base. It has to feel like something that's made for them, by them in a way,' and he's a huge component in all of this.

"He really knows what they want so deeply, and we were able to incorporate all that.

"But what it then turned into, because it did well at the box office, was something much bigger in the sequel film."

In regard to the follow-up, Tammi teases "so many more animatronics, new set pieces, more locations [and] great new cast additions".

She added: "Everything just got a little bigger, but we wanted to still stay authentic to what we had established in the first movie, which I think still does feel very intimate and nostalgic.

"There's definitely a danger when you're expanding something to lose sight of what the DNA of the original thing was. So we really wanted to make sure that we were doing both."

Hutcherson, in particular, was very excited about the "world-building" in Five Nights at Freddy's 2.

"First and foremost... the fan fiction lore possibilities are endless in the world of Freddy's, so I was really excited to see where we could take it," he told JOE.

"I wanted to learn more about Mike and see how he was going to handle himself after learning about what happened to his little brother. Seeing how that is going to shape him, I think it's interesting."

The Hunger Games star also said he wanted the sequel to be "scarier".

"When I read the script for the sequel, it's scarier, it's more intense, it's darker," Hutcherson said.

"Then when I saw the movie, it's a hell of a lot scarier than the first one, so I was happy to see them crank that tone up as well."

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 also has an expanded cast, with new additions including genre legends Wayne Knight (Basic Instinct, Jurassic Park) and Skeet Ulrich (the Scream franchise).

Also reprising his role from the original Freddy's is Matthew Lillard (Scooby Doo, Scream), making Tammi's latest a Scream reunion.

"All of those guys... have such rich prior experience being in other franchises," the director noted, adding: "There's just something that they, in a very relaxed way, knew walking into this.

"That is how to deliver for a big audience who's really looking forward to this thing that they love so much.

"Wayne Knight is hilarious, and just kept us cracking up behind the monitors at all times when we were filming scenes with him.

"Skeet stepped into the role with so much depth and really connected personally with the backstory of the character he was playing.

"And then Matt, of course, was continuing his journey from movie one and trying to find ways to push the envelope more, and it was such a great experience working with all three of them."

Emma Tammi, producer Jason Blum and Josh Hutcherson

Hutcherson, meanwhile, is proving to be the man of the moment, thanks to Five Nights at Freddy's 2 and the release of I Love LA, the currently on-air hit HBO comedy show that he stars in.

Since JOE spoke with Hutcherson, the Rachel Sennott-created series has earned a season two renewal.

"I would like next year for my life to just be shooting I Love LA and shooting the third Five Nights at Freddy's," Hutcherson told us.

"That would be my dream next year. So we'll see if that can happen."

With I Love LA season two getting the green light and the strong fan base for Five Nights at Freddy's, Hutcherson's dream could soon become a reality.

Five Nights at Freddy's 2 arrives in cinemas on Friday, 5 December.