M3GAN

M3GAN
File:M3GAN Poster.jpeg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Gerard Johnstone
Produced by	Jason Blum James Wan
Screenplay by	Akela Cooper
Story by	Akela Cooper James Wan
Starring	Allison Williams Jenna Davis Violet McGraw
Music by	Anthony Willis
Cinematography	Peter McCaffrey
Edited by	Jeff McEvoy
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	December 7, 2022 (2022-12-07) (Los Angeles) January 6, 2023 (2023-01-06) (United States)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$12 million
Box office	$94.4 million

M3GAN is a 2022 American science fiction horror film directed by Gerard Johnstone, written by Akela Cooper from a story by Cooper and James Wan (who also produced with Jason Blum), and starring Allison Williams and Violet McGraw, with Amie Donald physically portraying M3GAN and Jenna Davis voicing the character. Its plot follows the eponymous artificially intelligent doll who develops self-awareness and becomes hostile that comes between her and her human companion.

M3GAN premiered in Los Angeles on December 7, 2022 and was released in the United States on January 6, 2023 by Universal Pictures. The film was a commercial and critical success, grossing over $94 million worldwide against a budget of $12 million, and was praised by critics for its campy blend of horror and humor, satirical elements, and performances. As of 2023, a sequel to M3GAN is in development.

Plot

A young girl named Cady and her parents are involved in a car accident, leaving Cady an orphan. Cady is sent to live with her aunt Gemma, a roboticist at the high-tech Seattle toy company Funki. Funki is the company developing M3GAN (Model 3 Generative Android); a life-sized humanoid robot doll powered by artificial intelligence, designed to assist in caretaking duties and being a loyal companion to the child to whom it is assigned. After a faulty test before her boss David, Gemma is ordered to drop the project.

Gemma and Cady struggle to adapt to their new living situation, as Gemma is a workaholic by nature and doesn’t have time to bond with Cady. When Cady happens to see a prototype of M3GAN, she expresses to Gemma her wish to have the doll as a toy, which propels Gemma to complete the project. The finished model is formally paired with Cady, and David becomes convinced of the project's potential for success after observing M3GAN’s interactions with Cady. M3GAN exceeds Gemma's expectations for parenthood duties and becomes Cady's best friend, to the point where Gemma's colleagues, and Cady's therapist Lydia, in particular, become concerned about Cady creating an extremely strong emotional attachment to M3GAN. In addition, being designed to self-improve and adapt, M3GAN starts operating more independently and targets anything that she deems a threat to Cady. She kills the dog of Gemma's neighbor Celia after it bites Cady. Later, she tears off the ear of Cady's bully Brandon and chases him before he trips and falls in the path of an oncoming car, instantly killing him.

After Celia aggressively confronts Gemma, Cady, and M3GAN, blaming them for her missing dog, M3GAN kills Celia by shooting her with a nail gun and spraying her with garden chemicals. Gemma becomes suspicious of M3GAN and attempts to check her video logs to see if she was involved in the deaths. When she finds them corrupted or erased, Gemma turns M3GAN off and takes her to her colleagues Tess and Cole to fix her. Cady responds violently, lashing out due to her attachment to M3GAN. Gemma tries to apologize for her absence as a parent and tells Cady that M3GAN is a distraction from her difficulty to cope with losing her parents, instead of a solution.

While M3GAN wins over Funki's investors and convinces them to release a worldwide campaign in advance of her release, Gemma, Tess and Cole decide to try to terminate M3GAN due to her volatile and violent tendencies. Tess and Cole attempt to shut down M3GAN while Gemma takes Cady home, but M3GAN attacks Cole by hanging him with a chain. While Tess frees Cole, M3GAN causes an explosion in their lab and then shuts off the alarm. On her way out of the building, M3GAN hacks David and his assistant Kurt to death in an elevator with the blade of a guillotine paper cutter. She then steals a car and drives back to Gemma's house.

M3GAN confronts Gemma back home, adamant about taking over as Cady's sole parental figure. Gemma attempts to shut M3GAN down again, but M3GAN overpowers her and threatens to paralyze her so she will be unable to care for Cady. Watching the fight unfold, a horrified Cady uses Bruce, a motion capture robot that Gemma also created, to tear M3GAN apart. However, M3GAN's head and arms remain active, and she attempts to kill Cady for the betrayal. Gemma exposes a processing chip in M3GAN's head, which Cady stabs with a screwdriver, rendering M3GAN's body lifeless.

With M3GAN seemingly destroyed, Gemma and Cady go outside as the police arrive with Tess and Cole. As they leave the house, M3GAN, having taken over the camera of Gemma's smart home, ominously turns to watch them.

Cast

• Amie Donald as M3GAN
  • Jenna Davis as the voice of M3GAN
• Allison Williams as Gemma
• Violet McGraw as Cady
• Jen Van Epps as Tess
• Brian Jordan Alvarez as Cole
• Jack Cassidy as Brandon
• Ronny Chieng as David Lin
• Amy Usherwood as Lydia
• Lori Dungey as Celia
• Stephane Garneau-Monten as Kurt
• Arlo Green as Ryan
• Kira Josephson as Ava

Production

Development and writing

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Producers Jason Blum (left) and James Wan (right)

The idea of the film began when Wan's Atomic Monster Productions was brainstorming story ideas and chose one about a killer doll. Although Wan's 2014 film Annabelle is about a killer doll, he said, "Pretty much the concept is about embracing technology too much and relying too much on it. And what happens when technology runs amok. It's a commentary on the world we live in and it feels relevant". Blum stated that the film would have black comedy elements which is one reason Johnstone was chosen to direct, saying "We needed someone who can do the thrills and set pieces, but who also has a cheeky approach". Wan admired Johnstone's film Housebound because of his ability to balance the horror and comedy elements by creating a tone that is both frightening and humorous, and this sensibility was essential for M3GAN.

In July 2018, The Hollywood Reporter announced that production was underway for a "techno horror-thriller" titled M3GAN to be produced by James Wan and Jason Blum. Gerard Johnstone was confirmed to direct while Akela Cooper wrote the screenplay and story, with Wan. Shooting was scheduled to begin in late 2018.

Filming

On a budget of $12 million, principal photography began in June 2021 taking place in Los Angeles, California, and Auckland, New Zealand. The suburbs of Auckland were utilized to lend the film a "Denver, Colorado, type feel". Filming was completed by mid-August right before a COVID-19 lockdown occurred in New Zealand. The film underwent reshoots in post-production in order to secure a PG-13 rating from the Motion Picture Association, after the original cut was deemed too violent.

Special effects

Adrien Morot and Kathy Tse of Morot FX Studio created an animatronic puppet version of M3GAN that was used for dialogue and close-ups. There was also a second animatronic used for certain scenes, as well as a posable stunt version of M3GAN that wasn't puppeteered. The animatronic M3GAN was puppeteered via a variety of techniques, which included radio-controlled facial expressions performed by Morot and Tse in tandem, automated lip-sync for the dialogue (temp guide tracks were provided during filming by New Zealand actress, Kimberley Crossman) and a puppeteer physically moving M3GAN's head and body.

Amie Donald performed any of M3GAN's scenes that called for physical movement the puppet could not do and also did all of her own stunt work. Donald received movement coaching from Jed Brophy and Luke Hawker in portraying M3GAN's agility. On set Donald wore a static silicone M3GAN mask created by Morot FX and this was later replaced by a CGI version of M3GAN's face to match that of the animatronic.

In post-production, Donald's physical performance as M3GAN was enhanced by digital visual effects by the New Zealand-based effects studio Wētā FX. Speaking about the design of M3GAN, Johnstone stated that he "looked to screen icons from the '50s like Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Kim Novak for inspiration. But I wanted some '70s naturalism to counteract her synthetic nature, so the hair is one hundred percent Peggy Lipton."

Release

M3GAN had its world premiere in Los Angeles on December 7, 2022, before its wide theatrical release in the United States on January 6, 2023. It was originally scheduled to be released on January 13, 2023, before being moved up a week in order to avoid competition with House Party and the wide expansion of A Man Called Otto, which were also scheduled for January 13.

Marketing

The teaser poster for the film was unveiled at the 2022 CinemaCon. We Got This Covered compared it to Chucky and Annabelle. The first trailer was released on October 11, 2022, set to Taylor Swift's "It's Nice to Have a Friend". After its premiere, a clip of M3GAN dancing gained widespread attention on social media platforms like TikTok. The viral moment helped to build buzz for the film's release. The second and final trailer was released on December 7, 2022, set to Bella Poarch's "Dolls". In the final film, M3GAN dances to "Walk the Night" by Skatt Brothers. On January 8, 2023, Williams revealed that she and the marketing team at Universal had debated whether to include the scene in the trailer or save it for when audiences saw the film in theaters. She told The Hollywood Reporter, "When we saw the first cut of the trailer, we were all hemming and hawing about whether or not to let the dance be out in the trailer or try to keep it as a surprise in the movie ... And boy, the forces of marketing at Universal were right to keep it in the trailer, because it just helped, honestly." On January 12, Johnstone partook in a promotional Reddit "Ask Me Anything" for the film, in-character as M3GAN, answering in-universe questions about the character in addition to teasing a potential sequel. The website Chess.com temporarily added M3GAN as a chessbot to promote the film.

Reception

Box office

As of January 16, 2023, M3GAN has grossed $60.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $34.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide gross of $94.5 million.

In the United States and Canada, M3GAN was initially projected to gross $17–20 million from 3,509 theaters in its opening weekend. After making $11.7 million on its first day (including $2.75 million from Thursday night previews), estimates were increased to $27.5 million. It went on to debut to $30.4 million, finishing in second place at the box office behind holdover Avatar: The Way of Water. The film made $18.3 million in its sophomore weekend, remaining in second.

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 95% based on 244 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Unapologetically silly and all the more entertaining for it, M3GAN is the rare horror-comedy that delivers chuckles as effortlessly as chills." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 53 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled at PostTrak gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Variety's Owen Gleiberman called M3GAN "a diverting genre film, one that possesses a healthy sense of its own absurdity", and wrote that the film satirizes "all of us — or, at least, those who now think of the mirror offered by artificial intelligence as an actual form of interaction." David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter commended the physical and voice performances of Donald and Davis, respectively, as well as the visual effects work used to depict M3GAN; Rooney wrote that the film's "shocks and scares and even the cautionary notes are not lessened by the enjoyable vein of campy humor." The Independent's Clarisse Loughrey gave the film a score of four out of five stars, writing that "Under the canny, high-spirited direction of Gerard Johnstone, [...] it's incisive, sardonic, and totally mean-spirited. A perfect mix. Maybe it's not as shocking as Malignant, but it feels exactly like watching Mean Girls's queen bee Regina George if someone had given her a knife and a death wish."

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian awarded the film three out of five stars, calling it a "cheekily enjoyable chiller" and writing: "Derivative though M3GAN undoubtedly is, [...] there are some adroit satirical touches about dolls as toxic aspirational templates, dolls as parodies of intimacy and sensitivity and tech itself as sinister child-pacification, with kids given iPads the way Victorian children were given alcoholic gripe water." Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting similarly praised the effects and performance work involved in depicting M3GAN, and complimented the film's humor, but called the trajectory of the narrative "well-telegraphed" and added, "Save for a few jump scares, there's an overt restraint with the horror. The PG-13 rating also dampens what kills we do get. Those looking for the unexpected likely won't find it here, though that doesn't make it any less fun." USA Today's Brian Truitt gave the film three out of four stars, also lauding its effects and satirical elements. ‎A.A. Dowd of Chron.com noted the presence of "some real ideas trickling through the film's B-movie code", and wrote that, "if the film is rarely very frightening (the kill scenes [...] lack both suspense and true holy-shit grisliness), it often works like gangbusters as an over-the-top horror comedy whose fun rests on a toy box full of priceless leering-doll reaction shots and cutting remarks."

The New York Times' Jason Zinoman noted the film as featuring "some absurd dialogue" and a "by-the-book conclusion", but commended its tone and wrote that Johnstone "doesn't go for elaborate suspense sequences or truly intense scares. He wants to please, not rattle. And while there are some hints at social commentary on how modern mothers and fathers use technology to outsource parenting, this movie is smart enough to never take itself too seriously." Tyler Doupe of Dread Central gave the film three out of five stars, lamenting its horror elements as lacking and its human characters as "somewhat two-dimensional", but writing that its comedic elements, "combined with the eventual build to an exciting conclusion, made the film worth my time." Randy Myers of The Mercury News gave the film two out of four stars, writing that it "stocks up on jump scares and keeps the violence PG-13, but fails to make us care about any of the humans in the path of M3GAN."

Sequel

In November 2022, The New York Times reported that Universal was pleased by how the film turned out and is planning to make a sequel. In January 2023, Johnstone confirmed talks of a sequel, with Wan explaining that he has an "idea of where sequels would go". In a promotional Reddit "Ask Me Anything" later that month, in-character as M3GAN, Johnstone expressed interest in a crossover film with the Child's Play franchise, and in Megan Thee Stallion cameoing in an eventual M3GAN sequel.

External links

• Official website
• M3GAN at IMDb
• M3GAN at Metacritic
• M3GAN at Rotten Tomatoes