M3GAN 2.0 Producer Explains Why Horror Sequel Bombed at Box Office

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“We all thought M3GAN was like Superman. We could do anything to her,” Blum said. “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. And we classically over-thought how powerful people’s engagement really was with her.”

Blum continued by discussing the complex nature of making a sequel. “People wanted more M3GAN just like she is. Every time you do a sequel, you have to ride this very fine line,” he said. “Which is, if you make it too close to the first movie, everyone says, ‘You ripped off the first movie.’ And, ‘Why’d you make this movie? What a waste of time.’ And if you make it too far away from the first movie, everyone says, ‘Why the f*** is this a sequel? This has nothing to do with the first movie and we’re pissed about it.’”

M3GAN 2.0 was always projected to have a bit of an uphill climb at the box office. Heading into its opening weekend in late June, estimates had it pegged for a gross of around $20 million, a figure considerably less than the original’s $30.4 million debut. The actual numbers were worse than expected; M3GAN 2.0 earned just $10.2 million domestically, good enough for a fourth-place finish in its first weekend.

Universal still has big plans to expand the M3GAN franchise. Next year sees the release of the spinoff SOULM8TE, which puts an erotic spin on the established formula (the plot follows a widower who befriends an android to help process the death of his wife). That film is scheduled for release in January 2026. M3GAN 2.0 director Gerard Johnstone has expressed a desire to make several more sequels that explore the ever-evolving topic of AI.

M3GAN 2.0 upped the ante when compared to its predecessor by leaning more into sci-fi/action elements. The marketing campaign made it clear the sequel was doing a riff on Terminator 2: Judgment Day, telling a story in which M3GAN goes from villain to hero as she looks to protect Cady and Gemma from the evil AI called AMELIA. That shift might have been too big of a swing for people who just wanted another creepy horror film similar to the first installment. Additionally, making M3GAN 2.0 a summer release meant it was facing much stiffer competition than its predecessor. The original M3GAN was able to stand out as a new release in early January, a time when there aren’t too many high-profile titles playing (save for holiday season holdovers that have already done most of their business). M3GAN 2.0 got buried underneath a wave of massive summer films, such as F1, which broke records with its $57 million debut.

It’s true that M3GAN 2.0 was going after a specific target demographic and could have been a counterprogramming option for viewers uninterested in the more traditional summer big-screen experiences, but Blum indicates M3GAN 2.0 lost some of that target audience by switching things up too radically for the sequel. He’s right in saying a rehash of the first film would have also been subject to criticism, but if M3GAN 2.0 was more of a horror film as opposed to going bigger, things might have turned out differently. Hopefully, the creative team learned their lesson for future installments.