Willy's Wonderland

Willy's Wonderland is a 2021 American action comedy horror film directed by Kevin Lewis from a screenplay by G. O. Parsons. The film stars Nicolas Cage, who also served as producer, along with Emily Tosta, Ric Reitz, Chris Warner, Kai Kadlec, Christian Del Grosso, Caylee Cowan, Terayle Hill, Jonathan Mercedes, David Sheftell and Beth Grant. It follows a quiet drifter who is tricked into cleaning up an abandoned family entertainment center as he is stalked by eight murderous animatronic characters possessed by the souls of a cannibalistic killer and his seven psychotic acolytes.

The project was announced in October 2019, with screenwriter Parsons having conceived the idea based on his 2016 short film Wally's Wonderland, which was also the script's original name. It caught Cage's attention, who agreed to participate as both an actor and a producer. Lewis was hired as director in December 2019 while the cast joined in February 2020. Prior to its release, the film received a small cult following due to sharing its premise with the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise.Willy's Wonderland was originally set for a worldwide theatrical release on October 30, 2020, but was postponed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, it was released through video on demand, with a simultaneous limited theatrical release in the United States, on February 12, 2021 by Screen Media Films. The film received mixed-to-positive reviews, with praise to Cage's performance, the dark humor and the animatronics' realistic movements but with criticism for its screenplay, plot and characters.