The Real Reason Why M3GAN 2.0 Bombed at the Box Office

The sequel to 2022's viral horror hit was projected to open at $45 million, then re-adjusted to $30 million, and still fell short. Final tally?

• Opening weekend: $17 million worldwide
• Total worldwide gross: $32.9 million

Compare that to the original M3GAN, which launched with $30.4 million in its opening weekend alone, and you get the picture.

So what went wrong?

According to producer Jason Blum, a little too much confidence, and not enough time. Speaking on The Town podcast, the Blumhouse founder didn't mince words:

"I was upset. 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."

That's exactly what they tried to do. Instead of another tightly wound horror flick, the sequel leaned more into action-comedy and was fast-tracked for a summer release. Neither worked.

Blum said director Gerard Johnstone, who returned for the sequel, simply didn't get the time he needed this time around:

"He's just one of those directors that needs a lot of time. And on the first M3GAN, he had all the time in the world. I don't think we even had a release date until the movie got finished. And on this, again, we've gone over our skis too far — summer movie, change the genre, set the date. We got too excited by M3GAN, and she didn't work."

The film's story involves M3GAN being rebuilt by her creator (Allison Williams) to take on a rogue military-grade AI called AMELIA. The intention, according to Johnstone, was to give audiences a reason to root for her again—building off the idea that M3GAN was never evil, just following her programming.

"When I was working on the first movie, I was always very careful not to have her do anything that felt just malicious or evil. I really felt like I empathized with this character."

Johnstone also acknowledged her place in pop culture and promised fans she'd still bring the energy they loved:

"To give audiences the best movie and to present the character in the best way. To utilize all the things she does as a character that made people fall in love with her in the first place, but in surprising ways."

In the end, the shift in tone, the rush to release, and the overconfidence in M3GAN's brand power all added up to a misfire. Blumhouse aimed for a crowd-pleasing blockbuster and forgot what made the original work: tension, simplicity, and a killer doll being just unhinged enough to be terrifying.

This time, the AI didn't take over — it just kind of glitched.