YouTuber Markiplier, well known for his work streaming and reacting to the Five Nights at Freddy's indie horror franchise, has broken his silence on the FNAF movie, saying in a livestream that his absence from his YouTube channel has been due to filming a movie, just not that particular movie. He noted his project is something he has written and directed himself.
The incredibly popular YouTube streamer, who has more than 34.7 million followers on the platform and whose In Space With Markiplier series was nominated for an Emmy last year for Outstanding Interactive Media, has become somewhat synonymous with the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise. Self-dubbed as The King of Five Nights at Freddy's, he is mostly known for his exaggerated screams while streaming indie horror titles, but his work with FNAF makes up his most popular content.
Markiplier is also known for consistently posting long-form content on a near daily basis, but his YouTube channel has been largely unused lately, showcasing only a handful of videos over the past month, and only three within the past 10 days. He explained the slowdown in content about a month ago, stating that he was working on a movie. While not confirming what the movie was, he mentioned "a soundstage, and a set is being built, and, you know, the crew is all working," indicating a larger-scale production and prompting a healthy portion of his fan base to speculate that he was being included in the Matthew Lillard and Josh Hutcherson-led cast of the FNAF movie.
Speaking in a low, rumbly whisper after he "thrashed my voice from screaming" at the previous night's Creator Clash 2 influencer boxing event, the YouTuber went live for nearly 40 minutes and declared that while his absence has been due to filming a movie, it is not the Five Nights at Freddy's movie, much to the chagrin of many of his fans.
"No, it's not the FNAF movie, it's my movie, and it's something that I am very, very proud of, and it's something that has taken a lot more work than previously thought, but at the same time, is something that's going to be infinitely more rewarding than I thought before."
However, late in the stream, he got a little cheeky while answering fan questions unrelated to the movie. "I don't know anything about the FNAF movie," he said, gazing intensely into the camera. "Don't ask me anything about the FNAF movie. My God, the things that I could definitely not tell you about the FNAF movie that I definitely don't know about. Wink. I don't know anything. Or do I? Question. No. I know nothing."
Markiplier expressed hope that an announcement about his movie — including the trailer, which he promised to post to his channel as soon as it's ready — would be available as early as Thursday, April 20, or at least by the end of the weekend, and "it's not gonna be what you expect." Answering a fan question, he said his movie is nearly done with filming and will be released in theaters, meaning it's no small-scale production, and reiterating that it's "in absolutely no way" related to FNAF.
Regarding his own project, he expressed disappointment at people who don't take online content creators as serious artists. "I don't care one way or another if someone acknowledges or gives legitimacy to something that I do. I don't need them to give any legitimacy. But with this ... I'm going to rip their eyes open and show them that there is a whole new world of content creation coming for them, and if they don't change and adapt, I will just keep making it, I will just keep putting it out there, and it will just keep storming over the things that they make. And I'm not leading the charge or anything. It's just a reality of individuals being able to make things, and it's a very exciting time."