The horror genre’s renaissance is showing no signs of slowing down, to the delight of fans like me. Some of the best horror movies from recent memory come from Blumhouse Productions such as the M3GAN movies. Producer James Wan recently spoke about that franchise’s developing spinoff, and name dropped a classic title when sharing its inspiration.
M3GAN 2.0 is in theaters now, continuing the burgeoning franchise with a sequel inspired by Terminator 2. While fans wait for news about a possible threequel, theres’ another upcoming horror movie coming together within the same world. The spinoff is titled SOULM8TE, and Wan spoke to EW about how it’ll be different from the M3GAN films. In his words:
M3GAN, obviously, dabbles in the PG-13 world, the younger demographic. We always felt like there might be a more adult story to tell, and that’s really what SOULM8TE is. SOULM8TE is basically set in the same AI world but seen through a more grown-up perspective, one that embraces all the great erotic thrillers from the ’90s. It’s like Fatal Attraction but with robots.
Sign me TF up. M3GAN‘s PG-13 rating allows for a wider audience, but there are fans like myself who wish those movies were Rated R, and could therefore be more bloody. But it sounds like SOULM8TE will be a more adult take, and is inspired by Fatal Attraction aka one of the best ’80s movie ever. So I could not be more sold on the forthcoming spinoff. Will we get more bunny boiling? Only time will tell.
The M3GAN franchise being a cautionary tale against the use of AI definitely seems timely, so it’s exciting that Blumhouse and James Wan are finding new ways to expand it. Later in that same interview, the horror legend spoke about how SOULM8TE will be different than its predecessors, saying:
[The movie still has] that darkest sense of humor. But it’s really more grown-up. It is hard to replicate that sassiness that M3GAN has, and we don’t really want to do the same thing that we’ve done because M3GAN has fully staked a claim to that style of humor, if you will.
This sounds super exciting, and I have to wonder if that’ll mean that SOULM8TE will be Rated R. TBD, but if it’s going to be a more adult story it might have to be. Even if the violence doesn’t need it, the story might necessitate the more adult rating. It certainly seems like those involved in the developing spinoff have a clear vision for it.
M3GAN 2.0 is in theaters now as part of the 2025 movie release list. It’s currently unclear when SOULM8TE is going to hit theaters, but we here at CinemaBlend will be paying close attention to here the horror franchise goes next.