Blumhouse Thinks It May Have Overestimated M3GAN’s Versatility

After the smash success of 2022’s M3GAN, it was easy to assume the inevitable sequel would do the same. But M3GAN 2.0 has yet to catch on like its predecessor, so far yielding disappointing box-office returns and putting talk of a trilogy, not to mention a M3GAN cinematic universe beyond next year’s sexbot spin-off, SOULM8TE, in doubt. In a new interview, Blumhouse boss Jason Blum shared his thoughts on the disappointing situation.

On The Town podcast (via the Wrap), Blum ticked off the reasons for M3GAN 2.0‘s diminishing returns, including releasing the sequel in the more competitive summer season (the original went wide in early January, after a December premiere), as well as the accelerated timeline for its completion.

But he also acknowledged there was a fundamental misunderstanding regarding the character and how the audience perceived her, especially in a context that leans more into action than horror.

“We all thought M3GAN was like Superman,” he admitted. “We could do anything to her. We could change genres. We could put her in the summer. We could make her look different. We could turn her from a bad guy into a good guy. We kind of classically overthought how powerful people’s engagement was really with her.”

Beyond Blum’s remarks, M3GAN fans are also well aware of how her star power expanded beyond that first movie. The character became a pop culture phenomenon off screen, showing up in flash mobs at theme parks and in Pride parades; getting into jokey online feuds with fellow killer doll Chucky; and even picking her favorite flicks from the Criterion Closet. Perhaps that persona became bigger than the movies—and ultimately worked against that action-oriented shift in her sequel. She is versatile, but maybe not in quite the way Blumhouse was expecting.

M3GAN 2.0 underperforming means Blumhouse isn’t having its best moment right now. But Blum still sounded optimistic for the future: “You can’t erase 15 years of what we’ve done, of the filmmakers that we’ve worked with, for a little slump.”

So far in 2025, other than M3GAN 2.0 the studio has released Wolf Man and The Woman in the Yard, both of which garnered mixed results, as well as Drop, which fared a bit better. No doubt Blumhouse has high hopes riding on its other two sequels still to come this year: Black Phone 2 in October, and Five Nights at Freddys 2—the follow-up to the studio’s most successful global release to date—in December.

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