'M3GAN 2.0' Is a Perfect Sequel. So Why Did It Flop So Hard?

M3GAN 2.0 flopped at the box office last weekend, taking about one-third of what the original earned during its opening weekend in 2022. It came as a shock to industry insiders, who considered the sassy killer doll to be as indestructible as "Superman," but fans didn't dig the tonal and genre shift from darkly comedic slasher flick to outrightly humorous sci-fi actioner. The underperformance, coupled with a recent spate of flops, has reportedly led to serious discussions within the studio, Blumhouse, about the future of the distributor's slate. It's a shame that M3GAN 2.0 didn't capture audiences in the same manner as the original  M3GAN , because Gerard Johnstone's follow-up to his original is a pitch-perfect sequel.

After seemingly defeating M3GAN in the closing minutes of the first movie, Gemma and her niece, Violet (whom she adopted after the death of her sister), have gone on to lead relatively normal lives. Gemma, who developed M3GAN's source code, is an advocate for tighter governmental and parental control over AI, while Violet is channeling her grief into learning karate. After a robotic government assassin known as AMELIA (Autonomous Military Engagement Logistics and Infiltration Android), who was spawned from M3GAN's digital DNA, goes rogue, Gemma is forced to revive M3GAN to defeat the new threat. This involves much undercover spycraft, car chases, shootouts, and kung-fu. Think of it as M3GAN: Impossible.  It holds together much better than you'd think, thanks largely to the commitment of the crew.

M3GAN 2.0 pulled in $10.2 million in its opening weekend compared to the original's $30.4 million. The sequel was reportedly budgeted between $15–25 million, while the original was produced for around $12 million. The paltry opening has apparently shown the industry that audiences only want sequels which are slavish retreads of their originals, but that's emphatically the wrong lesson to take from M3GAN 2.0 's underperformance.

Johnstone's film is a perfect sequel as it's not content to repeat any of the original's major beats. Much criticism has centered around the fact that M3GAN, in a T2: Judgement Day twist, is here made the good guy (or doll). This seems to be a classic case of damned if you do, damned if you don't. If Johnstone and producer James Wan had simply delivered us another M3GAN movie in which the titular doll terrorizes a family, carries out revenge killings, and is inevitably defeated, no matter how clever or camp it was, it would have simply been a faded copy of the original, and fans would have recognized that. If you want M3GAN powerwashing nosey neighbors and impaling boorish bosses, you can always watch the original. Appropriately, now is the time for something completely different.

Johnstone (who also penned the screenplay) and his producers have executed not only an incredibly bold and entertaining move for any sequel, but a canny business decision. The filmmakers have taken their earned clout to create an epic sci-fi action movie, the scale of which belies its relatively meager budget. Wisely, Johnstone retains all of the campier and sassier aspects that made the original so fun, in addition to the surviving cast members, all of whom were just as responsible for the film's success as the eponymous android. Crucially, he doesn't overdo the more outrageous indulgences. And through it all, he shows he's capable of helming a big, occasionally bombastic blockbuster which never, not once, loses track of its characters and its humor. Blumhouse, meanwhile, gets to signal that it's ready to broaden its portfolio.

Related: 'M3GAN' Was an Instant Classic. How Does 'M3GAN 2.0' Hold Up?

M3GAN 2.0 is a proper summer blockbuster, and so far, it's easily the most fun and effervescent movie of the season. In many ways, it harks back to sequels from the '90s and early 2000s. The structure effortlessly mirrors those efficient programmers from a lost time when tentpoles were breezy rather than overburdened by mythology. The opening section breezes through a collection of rousing action sequences while ably establishing the plot and briefly refreshing us on the original. There's a particularly excellent 13-minute sequence which opens the second act, a proper, old-fashioned action set piece which toggles through various locations and characters, introducing unexpected twists and turns into the main pursuit. This passage is an exceptional piece of filmmaking from Johnstone, one which rivals similar sequences in the two most recent Mission: Impossible movies (to which M3GAN 2.0 proudly owes much).

If nothing else, Johnstone solidifies himself as a brilliantly capable filmmaker, one who possesses an innate understanding of tone as well as the structure and expectation of the form itself. On the evidence of his three features, he's troubling Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve for the top ranks of blockbuster auteurs. He's also a disciple of the good-natured, camp-schlock school of Roger Corman and John Waters, who are equally worthy inspirators.

In terms of its financial underperformance, the circumstances surrounding M3GAN 2.0 's release were vastly different from those of its predecessor. M3GAN was one of two new wide releases on the weekend Jan 6, 2022, the other being the Tom Hanks weepie A Man Called Otto , which had actually been in limited release for several weeks. M3GAN dethroned Avatar: The Way of Water from the top spot, which had been hanging around for a month at that point. Puss in Boots and Black Panther 2 , which was nearly two months old, rounded out the top five. In other words: people were ready for something new at the multiplex. Bonus that M3GAN was actually good; repeat viewings undoubtedly boosted its cume.

On the other hand, M3GAN 2.0 was rather improbably released the same weekend as Brad Pitt's much-hyped racing drama F1: The Movie . That's an odd bit of counterprogramming considering F1 was positioned as a four-quadrant picture, meaning it was expected to (and inevitably did) draw an equal number of customers from all demographics. Blumhouse may have underestimated how much crossover there would be between their audience and  F1 , but it's almost assured that M3GAN 2.0 would have fared much better if released several weeks earlier. That would have seen it go up against Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme and the kid-centric  How to Train Your Dragon and Karate Kid reboots . But honestly, though M3GAN 2.0 is designed and functions as a classical summer movie, it probably would have done its best business between January and March.

However, it must be said that the trade industry loves to declare just about every movie to be a flop on arrival. Look no further than Variety 's recent gaffe over the gross of Sinners . There's little doubt that M3GAN 2.0 will handily recoup its budget (and then some) on digital rental and streaming, though it's unfortunate that many won't be seeing it on the big screen.

Related: This Scottish Samurai Movie Is the Summer's Must-See Action Flick

Sadly, it seems the industry has already taken the wrong lessons from M3GAN 2.0 . An article published in The Hollywood Reporter claimed that there was internal "soul searching" at Blumhouse following last weekend's numbers. The M3GAN spin-off, SOULM8TE , is still currently scheduled for a theatrical release in January, but that may change. Blumhouse admits that while SOULM8TE  has received positive notices from test audiences, release details for the forthcoming slate are being evaluated. However, October's The Black Phone 2 and December's Five Nights at Freddy's 2 , both of which, like M3GAN , are sequels to surprise hits, will receive theatrical releases.

In an interview with The Town , Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum was candid about why he felt  M3GAN 2.0  missed the mark, saying audiences weren't ready for the genre shift. "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 overthought how powerful people's engagement was with her," Blum admitted.

It's unlikely that the tonal pivot is the primary cause of the waning box office figures. M3GAN remains the same character in the sequel, and the film's structure is exactly the same. In some ways, it's even faster paced, and the silly succession of gory android murders which defined the original is likewise still present, and here begin happening much earlier in the narrative.

More than anything, it seems the film was a victim of its release date and marketing campaign. In the coming years, or maybe even months, appreciative fans will discover M3GAN 2.0 on their preferred streamer, and it will likely achieve the cult status alongside the original that it deserves. Unfortunately, the sequel's underperformance will likely reiterate to Hollywood that sequels must only be carbon copies of the first. But audiences deserve fresh material, especially when it's a franchise about which they're already passionate. M3GAN 2.0 might not be the sequel audiences expected, but it's the sequel they deserved.

M3GAN 2.0 is now in cinemas.

Related: Review: 'Jaws' Meets 'Silence of the Lambs' in This Bonkers Shark Thriller

'M3GAN 2.0' Is a Perfect Sequel. So Why Did It Flop So Hard? first appeared on Men's Journal on Jul 4, 2025