Th3 ‘M3GAN’ Cin3matic Univ3rs3 Might B3 D3ad

When M3GAN arrived in 2022, audiences were delighted: here was a horror movie that embraced both camp and gore, delivering a timely tale about the dangers of runaway AI along with a mechanical menace who worked sassy choreography into her murder spree. The first film was so successful, there were rumblings of a cinematic universe to come. The sequel, M3GAN 2.0, arrived earlier this year, and a more adult-focused spinoff, the erotic thriller SOULM8TE, was also announced, with Evil Dead Rise‘s Lily Sullivan set to star.

But, as hard as it may be to believe, everything producer and horror guru James Wan touches does not always turn to gold. M3GAN 2.0 was a disappointment, making a much smaller impact than the original in every way. And now Universal has removed the Wan-produced SOULM8TE—which Wan described earlier this year as “like Fatal Attraction but with robotsâ€â€”from its schedule.

As Variety reports, this doesn’t mean SOULM8TE will never be seen; it will instead be shopped around to other studios. This news comes awfully close to the movie’s onetime release date of January 9. As the trade points out, the poor performance of M3GAN 2.0 is absolutely a factor. It earned just $39 million, a win considering its budget of $25 million, but not anywhere close to the original M3GAN film’s surprise $181 million haul.

Written and directed by Kate Dolan (You Are Not My Mother), SOULM8TE is produced by Atomic Monster’s Wan and Blumhouse’s Jason Blum. If you’re dying for a “robot girlfriend†tale this very minute that’s a guaranteed good time, the Sophie Thatcher-starring Companion, which hit theaters early this year, is streaming on HBO Max.

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