More M3GAN is on the way, according to Deadline’s sources, who say that a sequel to the new film from James Wan about a killer doll with advanced AI is already in the works. M3GAN outperformed initial projections when it premiered on Friday, January 6, earning $39.2 million over the weekend, closely behind James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water, which continued its streak with $45 million. Social media has seemingly fallen in love with the doll, with M3GAN dance challenges and other clever marketing garnering over a billion views from TikTok, Instagram, and other channels.
From a Deadline report:
M3GAN reps a fantastic start to the box office year, especially with an original piece of IP, and the pic’s success is launching New Zealand filmmaker Gerard Johnstone’s talents out of a canon before Hollywood. Not to mention, it’s a great beginning for the ultimate team-up between Blumhouse and Wan’s Atomic Monster which are in final talks to merge. We heard on Friday, per sources, that a sequel is already in early development.
[…] what took M3GAN to another level was Universal’s push under Chief Marketing Officer Michael Moses. They immediately spotted a meme that would catch on fire, particularly on TikTok, in Megan’s droopy sway dance, a hashtag sensation that spurred 1.3 billion views from #M3GAN, #M3GANMovie, and #M3GANDance.
“I wanted to make a movie that really connects and is emotional,” Wan, who produced M3GAN, told the outlet. “M3GAN plays on a lot of different levels: It’s scary, creepy, touching and emotional at the same time. We wanted to lean into something more technology-driven as opposed to supernatural.”
Screenwriter Akela Cooper has teased that a gorier version of M3GAN is probably also on the way, having told the Los Angeles Times in a new interview about how the doll was originally meant to take out more people:
There should be an unrated version at some point. … I heard it is on the books. But yes, it was way gorier. Her body count in the script was higher than in the movie. It wasn’t a Gabriel [in ‘Malignant’]-scale massacre, but she did kill a bunch more people, including a couple of characters whom James was like, “I like what you did with those people, but I want them to live.”
Directed by Wan and released in September 2021, Malignant follows a woman who keeps seeing visions of grisly murders, only to find out that she has a very deep and disturbing connection to the mysterious suspect.