Jason Blum Gets Real About Why M3GAN 2.0 Failed: ""We All Thought M3GAN Was Like Superman"
M3GAN 2.0 didn’t exactly kill it at the box office. On paper, the sequel seemed like a surefire hit as the original M3GAN became a viral sensation and raked in $180 million globally off a modest $12 million budget.
But when the follow-up opened with a soft $10 million domestically, heads turned, and not in the creepy android doll way.
Now, Blumhouse founder Jason Blum is getting brutally honest about what went wrong.
On a recent episode of The Town podcast, Blum didn’t sugarcoat his reaction to the opening numbers. “I was in a death spiral of depression. By Monday, I was not feeling good.” For a guy whose company helped redefine modern horror, the drop from M3GAN to M3GAN 2.0 hit hard.
According to Blum, the sequel suffered from overconfidence and creative overreach.
“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.”
That shift, from creepy villain to techno-savior, was a big one, and Blum knows it didn’t sit right with everyone:
“People wanted more M3GAN just like she is. If you make it too close to the first movie, everyone says, ‘You ripped off the first movie.’ And if you make it too far away from the first movie, everyone says, ‘Why the f*** is this a sequel?’”
On top of that, M3GAN 2.0 couldn’t capture the viral lightning of the original’s TikTok dance-fueled marketing. And Blumhouse didn’t try to force it. “You can’t manufacture that sort of thing,” Blum acknowledged.
Despite the stumble, Blum made it clear the blame doesn't lie with Universal or director Gerard Johnstone:
“Gerard is a terrific director. Gerard is someone who can solve almost anything you throw at him, but he needs time... On the first M3GAN, he had all of the time in the world.”
Blum also pointed out the current box office climate is a different beast. Mid-budget horror films like M3GAN 2.0 face fierce competition from what he calls “cinematic events” like Final Destination: Bloodlines. “The marketplace is very different, and it's incredibly hard to get your arms around,” he said.
And while the recent run of Blumhouse releases like Night Swim, Imaginary, Wolf Man, Afraid, and more haven’t exactly been crowd-pleasers, Blum isn’t dodging accountability.
“I shoulder the blame for this, not Universal. They play a role, but we're in this together... the business is long term.”
Looking ahead, Blumhouse has a few crowd-pleasers lined up with The Black Phone 2 and Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, the latter of which has franchise momentum after pulling in nearly $300 million worldwide. But for now, Blum says it’s time to regroup and reflect.
“We really try and learn from our mistakes. But it really takes time. You have to get un-emotional about it... We'll have smaller meetings where we'll discuss, and discuss, and discuss. Really dig into it.”
M3GAN might’ve glitched, but Jason Blum is going to move forward learning for the mistakes they’ve made.