It was something of a surprise last weekend when the anticipated sequel to 2022’s surprise hit M3GAN – the aptly-named M3GAN 2.0 – crashed and burned at the box office, taking only a fraction of what its predecessor made over its opening weekend. F1 took much of the pennies, but something was off with the return of the killer robot, and producer Jason Blum has been speaking about the film’s disappointing returns. (via Deadline)

Our writer Luke Hearfield said the film “lacks the unexpected wow-factor of the first film” and “far removed from what made the original so beloved.”

Speaking on The Town podcast with Matthew Belloni this week, Blum was candid about the film’s performance and the lessons that he and his production company, Blumhouse, can learn from it, saying:

“We all thought Megan 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,”

The sequel went from horror to action and leaned heavily into the influence of James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day rather than continuing with what audiences had loved about the first one. Changing genres can work for superheroes and action films, for example, but switching a scary film into a beat-em-up action thriller left many audiences perplexed and, ultimately, disappointed.

“I said to [Blumhouse employees] this morning that if you look at any massive talent, whether they are a movie star or whether they are a production company or whether they are a studio, every one of your favorite people have gone through slumps. And that applies to Blumhouse, too,” Blum added, adding he had been “in pain” over the weekend as the grosses came in.

Blumhouse itself has suffered a slump in 2025, either through the sheer volume of horror-leaning titles in the marketplace, or that the kinds of movies they are making don’t match up with audience demands right now. Aside from M3GAN 2.0, Wolf Man ($34.1 million), Drop ($28.6 million) and The Woman in the Yard ($23.3 million) all underperformed at the box office. Indeed, their M3GAN “spin-off” SOULM8TE is due in cinemas in January, and all eyes will be on that, as well as their other films this year – sequels The Black Phone 2 and Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 – to see if their slump continues.

M3GAN 2.0 is in cinemas now. 

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