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When Blumhouse released M3GAN 2.0 on June 27, there was a lot of excitement about where the character was going to be taken and how the story would be extended. The original film had been a massive hit, grossing $181 million worldwide at the box office against a budget of just $12 million.
The decision to blend campy horror and humor together while tapping into modern artificial intelligence to provide fear for audiences proved to be a unique recipe for success. However, M3GAN 2.0 has been the complete opposite, and it has provided a key lesson to the horror genre, which is not to run against summer blockbusters.
M3GAN 2.0 Has Been A Box Office Disaster
Jason Blum Has Been Honest About The Mistakes Blumhouse Made
Creating a second movie in the M3GAN franchise seemed like a brilliant decision given the financial success of the first movie, but M3GAN 2.0 has ended up being a disaster for Blumhouse at the box office. The sequel only grossed $22 million against a budget of $15-25 million, meaning there is a chance that the film ended up losing money. With mixed reviews from critics, M3GAN 2.0 hasn’t performed the way most people likely thought it would. It has left fans disappointed and proven to be a rare loss for Blumhouse, which is something that Jason Blum openly reflected on when appearing on The Town with Matthew Belloni podcast.
“We all thought M3GAN was like Superman. 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. And we classically over-thought how powerful people’s engagement really was with her.”
M3GAN 2.0 Wasn't Able To Compete With Summer Blockbusters
Horror Should Keep Their Home In The Fall
Ultimately, there are many reasons why M3GAN 2.0 didn’t end up thriving at the box office, with Blumhouse potentially taking the idea too far or not quite promoting it properly. There’s no doubt that releasing it in summer didn’t help. The fact that Blum himself mentioned that as a possible reason for what went wrong is an example that even Blumhouse is aware that wasn’t the most brilliant move. Releasing horror films in the peak of blockbuster season, when people generally go to the cinema less frequently, was a risky move. The original movie was released in January, at a time when there was far less competition to detract audiences, and sticking to that time might have been a safer bet. A safer move would’ve been to move the release to October, when the horror genre is typically at its most popular, allowing it to compete with other horror films when audiences actively seek that genre.
It’s a sign that movies such as M3GAN 2.0 might be best operating outside of the summer season, when people are instantly pulled in by major franchises such as Jurassic World Rebirth, which is a true summer blockbuster that is always going to command a significant portion of the movie-going audience, and that is exactly what has happened. While it’s positive that Blumhouse was confident enough in its own product to release it in the heart of summer, the results have proven that it was a serious mistake. That’s something that other horror movies may now look to steer clear of moving forward, as the impact can be costly.
The Future Of The M3GAN Franchise Is Now Uncertain
Blumhouse Would Be Taking A Significant Risk In creating A Third Movie
After the first movie’s success, it seemed like M3GAN would be the next big franchise for the horror genre. Blumhouse and Universal had created a character that appeared to have the potential to be a modern-day icon after comparisons to Chucky. However, after the disastrous results of M3GAN 2.0, the decision to create future movies would be seen as a risk. It is no longer a guarantee that the franchise will continue to deliver box office results; ultimately, that makes the business go round. There have been rumors of a crossover with the Saw franchise now that Blumhouse owns the rights to that, but it’s unlikely a decision that big would be taken after these kinds of results. A spinoff from the M3GAN universe is being worked on in SOULM8TE, and that will likely be the testing ground for whether or not more content from this franchise will be made.
Interestingly, SOULM8TE is set for a release on January 2, 2026, with Blumhouse returning to what worked the first time with this franchise. While that was announced before the results of M3GAN 2.0, it’s a sign that decision makers are aware that horror movies are better left until the fall and winter seasons, rather than trying to compete with the bigger budget productions that tend to dominate the summer period. However, when it comes to M3GAN, there is going to be a lot of internal focus at Blumhouse on what went wrong, and the summer release date is going to be a big factor in that.
