Amid a wave of rave reviews from critics and audiences, M3GAN blew past its box office projections to bring in a $35 million box office haul for its opening weekend. Granted, Avatar: The Way of Water still maintained the top spot, M3GAN’s box office is the stuff franchises are made of, but first, horror producer James Wan wants to set the record straight about him being the “killer doll” guy.
“It’s funny, I really hadn’t done that yet,” Wan told Deadline. “In my previous doll movies — they don’t kill anyone. Annabelle never gets up and walks around. Everyone says I’m the killer doll guy. So I said, I’m going to make a killer doll movie for a brand new generation. Today’s kids didn’t grow up with Chucky like we did.”
Well, the next Chucky might have finally arrived in the form of M3GAN, which is connecting with audiences thanks to Wan’s decision to steer clear of one of the horror genre’s biggest tropes:
“M3GAN plays on a lot of different levels: It’s scary, creepy, touching and emotional at the same time,” Wan says, “We wanted to lean into something more technology-driven as opposed to supernatural.”
It also didn’t hurt that M3GAN had an aggressive marketing strategy that capitalized on the murder doll’s creepy dancing to turn her into a TikTok sensation. “When you see that team get excited about a movie, they pull out all the stops,” producer Jason Blum said. “When you feel that enthusiasm from marketing as a producer it gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling.”
As for a sequel, Deadline reports that one is “already in early development.”
M3GAN is currently playing in theaters.
(Via Deadline)