She’s already danced her way into the hearts and minds of audiences and now she may be boogieing back to the big screen. Everyone’s new favourite killer doll, M3GAN, debuted in theatres this weekend — and building off great social media buzz and awareness, grossed well above studio projections. As a result, it seems, a sequel is already in the works.
Deadline first reported the news of the sequel’s development and Gizmodo has followed up with Universal for further clarification or confirmation. Nevertheless, with a reported budget of just $US12 ($17) million (before all that elaborate marketing of course) and a first-weekend gross of $US45 ($62) million worldwide (including $US30 ($42) million domestic), the appetite for the funny/creepy AI killer doll is certainly there. The first film was written by Akela Cooper (Malignant) and directed by Gerard Johnstone (Housebound) from a story by Cooper and James Wan (Saw, Insidious), who also produced with Jason Blum and others. There’s no word on who among that team might be returning but the film does end with a bit of a cliffhanger, so you’d imagine sequel thoughts have been dancing in their heads since well before release.
In M3GAN, a young girl named Cady (Violet McGraw) loses her parents and is forced to live with her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams). Gemma struggles to connect with her niece and so she introduces her to an experimental doll she’s been working on, M3GAN, who becomes so attached to the young girl, she’ll kill for her. The film blends serious and silly themes in a very satisfying way, with plenty of creepy kills throughout.
If a sequel is already in the works, one would assume Universal and Blumhouse would hope to strike while the iron is hot. Could we see M3GAN return next year sometime? It seems possible, though that’s just speculation with a dash of wishful thinking. We just really want to see how M3GAN comes back and what she has in store next. Also, what’s it going to be called? M3G4N? M3GAN 2: Electric Boogaloo? Give us your best guess b3low.
While you’re here, why not check out Gizmodo Australia’s guide to what’s streaming this month on Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Stan, Binge and more. We’ve also got one for all the good movies coming out in 2023 if that’s more your thing.