We’ve been following the progress of the AI thriller M3GAN ever since it was announced that genre regulars James Wan and Blumhouse Productions would be teaming up to produce the film, with Gerard Johnstone (Housebound) on board to direct, back in 2018. Allison Williams – who had a memorable role in Blumhouse’s Get Out – signed on to star in M3GAN near the end of 2020, Ronny Chieng of Crazy Rich Asians joined her in mid-2021… and now we finally know when we’re going to see this movie. Deadline reports that Universal will be giving M3GAN a theatrical release on January 13, 2023.
That’s a good date for a horror thriller to be released, being a Friday the 13th, but it also happens to be the Friday of Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, and Universal was likely inspired to choose the date after seeing the $36 million holiday weekend opening the new Scream movie just enjoyed. The weekend doesn’t come without competition, though: Warner Bros. has an untitled movie scheduled to reach theatres on the same day, and Sony is plotting to get the Marvel Comics adaptation Kraven the Hunter onto screens on January 13th as well.
Based on a story crafted by Wan, M3GAN was directed by Johnstone from a screenplay by Akela Cooper (Malignant). Williams plays
Gemma, a brilliant roboticist at a toy company who uses artificial intelligence to develop, M3GAN, a life-like doll programmed to be a kid’s greatest companion and a parent’s greatest ally. After unexpectedly gaining custody of her orphaned niece, Gemma enlists the help of the M3GAN prototype – a decision that has unimaginable consequences.
It sounds like we’re getting an AI-powered killer doll here, so maybe part of the reason why it took so long for M3GAN to go into production is because they didn’t want to release this too soon after the Child’s Play remake.
M3GAN is a collaboration between Universal, Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, and Divide/Conquer. Jason Blum and Wan produced the movie, with Michael Clear and Judson Scott serving as executive producers for Wan’s company Atomic Monster. Blumhouse’s Ryan Turek is also an executive producer, as are Adam Hendricks and Greg Gilreath of Divide/Conquer, Williams, and Mark Katchur.