If you watched the M3GAN 2.0 trailer and realized the latest of upcoming horror movies wouldn’t just be a slasher, but perhaps more of a science-fiction action comedy, you’d be right, and believe me when I say this evolution looks good on the killer doll. So, when CinemaBlend spoke to writer/director Gerard Johnstone about the release of M3GAN 2.0, I had to hear the story behind the franchise’s change in programming.
When the filmmaker made the first M3GAN for a reported production budget of $12 million, he had no idea the monster success she would become. Two and a half years later, after she became a viral TikTok dance sensation, one of the stars of Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights and a gay icon, M3GAN 2.0 is almost here, and Johnstone shared how the fan reaction shaped the making of the sequel. In his words:
[Going into M3GAN 2.0] was definitely a different experience, but we were galvanized by how much love there was for the character. And, I just felt like we just have to do something that no one is expecting, but at the same time not ignore what made her so loved in the first place.
M3GAN has become a beloved horror character who is compared with the likes of Chucky, but the original movie itself holds a lot more range than simply being a slasher. As Gerard Johnstone shared with us in our Zoom interview, he comes from a comedy background himself, and M3GAN falls very much in that camp (pun intended). He also had this to say:
With the first one, it was almost like a dirty secret that it was actually a satirical comedy because it's very hard to market horror comedies and to have kind of two tones. So when the film came out, it was marketed as a straight horror that obviously there was a little bit of dancing in it and people were kind of thinking maybe there is more to this movie. And sure enough, those elements that made it more than just one thing were ultimately the thing that kind of made it special.
I recall being surprised myself when I sat down to watch M3GAN, and it had a lot more going for it than a modern Child’s Play. As the director spoke to, Blumhouse chose to market the original movie as horror to get butts into seats, but once fans checked it out, they completely understood what the filmmakers were really going for with it.
So, going into the sequel, Johnstone felt a certain freedom to let M3GAN 2.0 be something unexpected too. As he continued:
So going into this one, it seemed like the fans were having so much fun with it, that it just felt like we should have some more fun with the character and the sequel. It became a little bit of a reaction based on how everyone kind of embraced it. Not so much that it's fan service, it wasn't like that at all. I wanted to take it in a more fun direction... it felt like it gave me permission to take some of the wild swings I wanted to take in this movie.
M3GAN 2.0’s cast involves many of the original actors along with even more comedic talents, like Jemaine Clement and Saturday Night Live’s Aristotle Athari. But it also follows in the footsteps of James Cameron’s Terminator franchise. As you may recall, the original Terminator movie was practically a sci-fi horror movie where Sarah Connor is being hunted down by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s android before the sequel changes up the script.
Much like T2: Judgement Day, M3GAN isn’t the killer robot she once was in 2.0. In fact, she’s not even a robot until Ivanna Sakhno’s AMELIA comes into the picture. AMELIA is a new killer robot that actually threatens the safety of the world. It was designed thanks to someone getting their hands on the plans for M3GAN. In turn, Gemma is forced to rebuild M3GAN in order for AMELIA to have a worthy adversary.
Action looks great on M3GAN 2.0! You can check out the movie in theaters this Friday, June 27.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
