A viral video of movie-goers fighting each other during an opening screening of Five Nights at Freddy's (FNAF) has been revealed to be fake.
A video capturing a brawl at an early screening of FNAF in Acton, London went viral on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok.
Up until this point, it was unclear why the fight broke out. Mikey, the X user who posted the viral clip, said they "have no idea what happened" to cause the fight during the end credits:
“Everyone in the audience was just complaining and they started fighting at the end of the movie. Honestly, I have no idea what happened.”
Within the clip, viewers can see a large group of people primarily wearing grey hoodies, some with their phone flashlights on (possibly filming), with several throwing punches at others seated.
Fake FNAF Fight Exposed
Within a new TikTok video, user sleepzyy1x (who was present during the FNAF fight) said "We did it at the end of the movie for a joke. For fun!"
As reported by VG247, an up-close video shows the fake fight of a group of guys having fun and playfully throwing light punches and kicks. The original video posted to X currently has 7.4 million views.
While the fight, which can be watched below, has been revealed to be fake, the virality of the video has worked as a promotion for the Five Nights at Freddy's film, which is currently projected for a big opening weekend, despite streaming on Peacock simultaneously.
Is Movie Theater Etiquette an Issue?
This isn't the first movie theater incident (fake or not) to make headlines this year.
During the phenomenon known as Barbenehimer, it wasn't just a box office record being broken between Barbie and Oppenheimer.
There were reports (detailed by The Washington Post back in August) of disruptive behavior in movie theaters, with instances of people talking loudly, using their cell phones, and disturbing other audience members.
Some movie theaters have strict policies in place to address disruptive behavior like the fake FNAF fight, but it can still be challenging to control disruptions effectively.
Regardless of intent (sometimes malicious), incidents like this can harm those sharing the same theater and dissuade potential audience members from watching the 9-second clip at home.
Five Nights at Freddy's will start streaming on Peacock on Thursday, October 26 at 8 p.m. ET. and it opens in theaters on Friday, October 27.
