M3GAN ended up being a huge horror movie hit for Blumhouse earlier this year, and the sequel is currently in development. During a recent interview with Empire Magazine, producer James Wan teased the return of the killer robot doll in M3GAN 2.0. He explained:
“It’s early yet, but M3GAN is coming back in a big way. The first film came just at the right time [when concerns about AI were mounting], and we’re definitely leaning into that on the next one. We’re exploring the AI universe even further.”
It was previously revealed that Wan is the guy who pushed M3GAN forward, and Atomic Monster pitched the film to Warner Bros. who ended up passing on it. They didn’t want the AI doll competing with its demonic Annabelle doll. So, Wan took the idea to producer Jason Blum, who jumped on it.
During a previous interview director Gerard Johnstone opened up about the sequel and when asked if he would try to replicate the viral aspects of the first movie, he said:
“I think if you do that, you are kind of setting yourself up to fail, and the audience will smell that a mile away. I think for me, what works about the movie and what I think people are responding to is that it’s fun and absurd and full of lots of pleasant surprises.”
“And so looking at the sequel, those are my sort of paragons that I’m just trying to follow is like, how can we continue to be fun, absurd, surprising, but at the same time make sure that we continue to be part of the cultural conversation, I guess. In addition to the dance, we’re not too heavy-handed about it, but there are themes about co-parenting in the age of A.I. and things like that. So it’s important to have some substance to hang all of those dance sequences onto.”
M3GAN 2.0 is scheduled for release on January 17, 2025. Akela Cooper will write the script and Allison Williams and Violet McGraw will reprise their roles.
