In the wake of M3GAN 2.0’s disappointing box office, producer Jason Blum has talked candidly about its creative risks and a crowded horror marketplace.
When faced with the choice between a goofy sci-fi action thriller and a steely-eyed racing flick, audiences went for the latter over the past weekend. F1 The Movie was a hit for Apple with a US opening of just over $55m – overseas it took in $88.4m.
Spluttering on the starting grid, meanwhile, was Universal and Blumhouse’s killer robot sequel, M3GAN 2.0, which took in a much lower than expected $10.2m in the US and $17m elsewhere. That’s a third less than its 2023 predecessor, which made $75m worldwide on its opening weekend.
Ordinarily, this is the moment where Hollywood producers pull down the blinds and keep quiet. Instead, Blumhouse founder and producer Jason Blum phoned up Matt Belloni’s The Town podcast for an ebullient and candid interview, in which he laid out his theories as to why M3GAN 2.0, again directed by Gerard Johnstone, didn’t land with audiences as expected.
First, there were the box office projections themselves, which were wildly off: “Ten weeks ago, the number we were batting around was $45m,” Blum said. “And we seriously thought how amazing it would be for our little movie, M3GAN, to outgross F1. People were talking about that!”
Instead, Blum recalls that the tracking numbers for M3GAN 2.0 gradually fell as the weeks went by. “Six weeks ago it was 35. Four weeks ago it was at 30. International, same thing – it goes from 30 to 20. Thursday we were really at 20, maybe 19. I was in a death spiral of depression. Monday it’s 10.”
The reason for the dwindling numbers – which were still above what the sequel actually made – were due to a number of factors, Blum says. First, there was the decision to shift genres: the original M3GAN was a sci-fi horror with elements of dark satire – not to mention a TikTok-ready dance routine. The sequel is more of an action sequel in the vein of T2: Judgment Day, with the humour also amped up this time round.
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“We all thought M3GAN was like Superman. We could do anything to her: we could change genres… change her age. Audience was not ready to genre swap. People wanted more M3GAN just like she is.”
Blum also suggested that the competitive summer period may have been the wrong slot for 2.0, and then hinted that the production may have been complicated by trying to meet that June release date.
“Critics were more mixed than on the first film I think,” Blum says. “Gerard is a terrific director… Gerard can solve anything you can throw at him, but he needs time. On the first M3GAN, he had all the time in the world. With this one, we got too excited.”
Zooming out a bit, Blum argues that M3GAN 2.0 may also have struggled due to the number of other horror films that have appeared in the first half of 2025 – many of which have higher budgets than the typical Blumhouse production. Sinners and 28 Years Later, for example, were made for between $70m to $100m. Both have done well both critically and financially – Sinners, in particular.
“I don’t think the market can absorb this much horror,” Blum said, before pointing to what could be quite a significant change in strategy for his company. For years, Blumhouse has made genre films on comparatively low budgets, meaning it can afford to have some films – the likes of Get Out and The Black Phone – become breakout hits, while others slip under the radar and make back their money on streaming platforms. In the future, it could follow a more typical studio model: bigger budgets, more sequels.
“I do think we need to up the budgets,” Blum says. “I think people need theatrical events. Black Phone 2 is a theatrical event. Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 is a theatrical event.”
Blum also acknowledged the level of volatility in the post-pandemic cinema business, however, and that, while he expects the horror sequel (and videogame spin-off) Five Nights At Freddy’s 2 to do well when it emerges in December, nothing’s a certainty. If a film with that level of audience recognition doesn’t do well, he says, “then maybe it’ll be existential” for his company.
“There’s clearly a huge audience that wants to go to the movies,” the producer says. “We just can’t figure out what movies they want to go and see.”
M3GAN 2.0 is in cinemas now.
