There was a time at Comic-Con where an actor on a Hall H panel would say, “I read the comics when I was a kid,” when talking about the latest comic book adaptation.
In an underscoring how the culture is shifting, on a Thursday Hall H panel, an actor said, “I played the games when I was a kid.”
The line was uttered by actor Teo Briones (who is all of 20) at the Universal Pictures and Blumhouse’s panel for Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, the sequel to the successful 2023 adaptation of the horror video game that was a surprise hit that grossed $291.4 million.
Video game adaptations have finally matured as a viable form for film and television in recent years, in both box office and critical acclaim. FNAF 2 hopes to keep that going when it hits theaters in December. And in success, there would be a third one, producer Jason Blum enticed the willing audience.
After showing the trailer that hit earlier this week, director Emma Tammi and Blum hit the stage, praising the new level of puppeteering and animatronic work being created by the Jim Henson Co. for the new movie.
Blum also said he believed it’s “bad luck” to start obsessing about sequels before any initial movie is out. “I really encourage the creative partners that we work with, that no matter how confient we are about the first movie, if you start thinking about the second movie before you completed the first movie, the first movie suffers,” he said.
That said, when the first movie became a hit, “we all said there is so much more lore here to explore.”
Actor Josh Hutcherson received screams and shrieks when he stepped out on stage, thanks for the fan audience he has amassed thanks to starring role in The Hunger Games movies. Now, he finds himself in another popular franchise that has its own rabid fanbase.
“It’s rare that you get to be apart of something that so many people connect to,” he said. “And I experienced that with Hunger Games in a very unique way… And now to have people go down this adventure with me, it’s so cool to be part of something that has so deep of a love.”
The panel on some way proved to be big tease for fans. A scene shown at the end of the panel occurred after the now-obligatory banter of “Do we have something to show?” “Are we allowed to show something?” And when the scene was shown, it highlighted a group of characters entering a dilapidated Freddy’s restaurant with a creepy security guard (Freddy Carter). The scene stopped before the characters went deeper into the dank restaurant, cutting short any hope of seeing the killer animatronic characters the sequel is promising.
And when actor Skeet Ulrich was asked if he can say who he is playing, he responded, “I cannot.” He added he played someone with a particular past. “Other than I that, I cannot say, I apologize.”
“Then why are you on this panel?” sassily asked star Piper Rubio, who, as an 11-year old, brought a sense of unpredictability to the proceedings.