Wrote this a few weeks back, so it's a little old for the purposes of entirely up to date accuracy, but this is a list I put together of things that logically make sense to be at the event next year and an overly detailed explanation for why I think they have a shot;
-Five Nights at Freddy’s
The big kahuna, the obvious choice, and the prime thing I would consider a shoo-in for next year. There’s absolutely no excuse, it’s a perfect storm. The franchise will be turning 10 years old, we’re still hot off the heels of an incredibly successful film adaptation that broke blumhouse records and most likely has a sequel on the way, new games are still coming out, and we just had the most animatronic heavy year in horror nights history, this is absolutely happening. In the past, Murdy has expressed that it seemed to be an impossible property, as it would be objectively pretty awful for any performers to have to bake in those mascot suits for long stretches of time. Now though, we have Chucky to look to, between being predominantly animatronic focused, and arguably even in the giga-chucky suit, you can see the groundwork laid that finally makes this possible. My guess, a solid 80% of the cast will be blackout performers activating the animatronics via triggers, just like chucky, and a majority of the rest of the cast would be human characters like Afton, or would be positioned in boo holes in such a way that you can have them only wearing the top half of an animatronic suit, which has been done before in other mazes to keep talent cool. There’s no way they’re letting this slip through their fingers. Only real question to be asked is whether it would be based on the movie, or take the last of us root and base it on the games despite the popular adaptation.
[ADDITION: Having seen some of the discussion about FNAF becoming a permanent addition to the park, I don’t think that’s gonna happen, I don't know where they’d reasonably put it unless they wanna uproot Panda Express or something, but I don’t see it happening. Scott Cawthon has been vocally against the creation of a real Freddy Fazbears due to his concerns that someone might actually try to kill someone there, and generally being uncomfortable with the prospect. Obviously, that’s far less likely at a theme park where security is a lot stronger, but I just don’t see it happening. Most I could expect is the lower lot pop up Surfer Boy Pizza location being used as a “Freddy Fazbear’s Express” type similar pop up. That said, Scott Cawthon has taken no issue with Freddy’s themed haunted houses, as Fright Dome in Vegas had one as far back as 2015, and there’s currently one in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to promote the new movie.]
-Silent Hill
A lot less likely, and I’m not sure if they’re quite ready to have two video game based properties as headliners despite Last of Us’ success, but this would be the time to bring it back if any. Silent Hill 2 is getting a remake, the movie requel is expected next year, and there's a slate of new games on the way as well. It would absolutely make sense for them to do a Silent Hill 2 focused maze in parallel with the film, a la Last of Us, but at the same time, especially after their last attempt, something really nags at me and makes me think this would probably just be based on the film, which frankly I really don’t have confidence in. I think this is totally possible, but also I think we could land in a “be careful what you wish for” territory with it.
-Some Return of Monstruos
I think this is another given. It’s possible they’ll return to doing individually focused mazes for Latin American legends, but honestly I wouldn’t bet on it, I think we’re keeping this anthology format with a new set of legends for next year, probably in the same location too. Frankly I could see new iterations of this coming until at least 2025 before they take a new angle, I have no idea how it did on GSATs but it’s a clear fan favorite and was in contention for maze of the year among many. [ADDITION: This was written before it was stated by Murdy that this ended up being house of the year, so consider this further reason to consider it a possibility, if anything.
] Honestly I don’t know how they didn’t latch onto this sooner, many legends all over the world are designed specifically to terrify kids, and a lot go way darker than you’d expect from an adaptation of media or a game where it’s being specifically designed for a mass market and has to adhere to an age rating and content system. Basing a maze on folklore immediately hits that chocolate and peanut butter combo of appealing to base childhood fears that will immediately connect to your audience, and really being able to go all out with gruesome concepts that aren’t possible elsewhere in your lineup. You’re not exactly seeing baby eating vulture witches in any recent movies they might adapt.
-Exterminatorz
More of a personal wish than anything, but I really expect this to happen. People were pretty lukewarm on the tram, but honestly I feel like this concept connected with a lot of general audiences on a “ew bugs gross” level, and larry larva is a goofy memorable character. Not to mention the VIP mini maze basically feeling like a soft test run to see how it would function, and the fact that factory/sewer scenes are nothing new to the event so it would really be pretty easy to achieve. Frame it as a tour through Exterminatorz headquarters that goes awry, have us escape through the sewers, and end with the exterminatorz causing havoc in a city or something. It tackles a common fear, using an original concept they already entirely own, the potential gags kinda just naturally start flowing the more you think about it, and with Bugs in Orlando being a big fan favorite they already have proof that there is demand. It seems like this would be extremely easy for them to do without needing intensive financial investment, and honestly wouldn’t be hard to get creative with and have a really fun execution despite the low need for splurging, it would be really weird if we don’t see this.
-Gremlins
Similar to FNAF, chucky really seems prototypical here for me. Not a ton to say because it feels like it speaks for itself pretty heavily, but Murdy’s major protest with doing this in the past was that he didn’t know how to achieve the effects faithfully, the same issue he had with chucky, but now there’s really no excuse. The only major hurdles as I see them are whether WB wants to play ball, but given all the rumors that Universal intends to purchase them outright I think that’s quickly becoming much less of a concern. The real question would be if Orlando is willing to step up to bat for this property, as their Chucky lacked the technical prowess that makes Gremlins seem like such a likely prospect on our coast. That said though, I think they’d be willing to try, and even if we don’t see this next year I think it's guaranteed it will pop up in the future.
that could be our facade.
