It’s a sad day at Chuck E. Cheese, as the company is moving forward with its retirement of all of its animatronic animals. In 2017, Chuck E. Cheese reps had revealed their plans to eventually phase out the animatronics, and a recent unveiling of the establishment’s new redesign brings along the news that the company is now pulling all of their robotic musicians off the stage. It’s noted a “Chuck E. mascot” will still mingle with kids and pose for pictures, but Munch’s Make Believe Band are now finishing out their last performances after 42 years of entertaining children at Chuck E. Cheese locations.
What probably wasn’t helping with the brand keeping their band of animatronics around was the immense success of the Five Nights at Freddy’s video game series. Created by Scott Cawthon, the original game is set in a pizzeria heavily inspired by Chuck E. Cheese, complete with its own singing and dancing animatronics. Unfortunately, the robotic animals turn murderous at night, making the game and its sequel among the most horrifying titles of the modern era of gaming.
The days of dancing human-sized animals at Chuck E. Cheese are officially a thing of the past https://t.co/6jfImlsm6D
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) November 12, 2019
In a way, Five Nights at Freddy’s has ushered in a new wave of fiction depicting animatronics as homicidal robots with a penchant for violence. The concept has even made its way to classic Hanna-Barbera properties by turning The Banana Splits into a bonafide horror movie with killer animatronics. It’s also recently been reported Nicolas Cage will star in an upcoming horror film called Wally’s Wonderland, with the fan favorite actor squaring off with – you guessed it – sentient animatronic creatures.
In any case, the members of Munch’s Make Believe Band are being forced into retirement, for better or for worse. Perhaps the animals were just as horrifying to some children as they were entertaining to others, but there’s definitely a certain sadness in seeing them go. Before we move on, let’s hear it one more time from Jasper T. Jowls performing “Snowman” in the video below!
Related Article: Nicolas Cage Takes On Evil Animatronics in ‘Wally’s Wonderland’
