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James Wan made 'M3GAN' because his previous killer dolls didn't meet genre requirements
"Vessels for demonic entities" apparently doesn't cut the mustard with the board of kill doll trustees.
Even though James Wan rose to horror prominence with films like Dead Silence and Annabelle, the director never truly felt as though he'd done justice by the "killer doll" genre. That is, of course, until he landed on the story for M3GAN with screenwriter Akela Cooper.
"I get accused of being the master of killer doll movies," Wan states in a behind-the-scenes clip from the M3GAN home release. "In those doll films, my dolls don't actually get up and kill anyone. They're usually just vessels for demonic entities. And so I said, 'Well, if people are going to think of me as a 'killer doll filmmaker,' let's actually do one.' And hence, the concept of M3GAN was born."
RELATED: Jason Blum credits 'M3GAN's wild success to post-pandemic desire to have fun at the movies
Watch James Wan talk M3GAN below:
Directed by Gerard Johnstone — with Wan producing alongside Jason Blum — M3GAN tells the story of a gifted toy company roboticist (Allison Williams) who builds a machine capable of thinking for itself. She makes the rather fatal mistake of pairing the sentient robot with her grief-stricken niece (Violet McGraw) and begins to pay the price when animals and people start to turn up dead.
Mark Katchur (Whiplash), Ryan Turek (Halloween Ends), Michael Clear (Malignant), Judson Scott (The Curse of La Llorona), Adam Hendricks (Black Christmas), and Greg Gilreath (Vengeance) served as executive producers alongside Williams.
Both the unrated and theatrical versions of M3GAN are now available to stream on Peacock. If you are a devoted collector of physical media, the film can be purchased on DVD and Blu-Ray. Audiences can also find the movie in theaters and on Digital. To date, the film has made over $172 million at the global box office ($95 million of that figure comes from domestic ticket sales).
A direct sequel — appropriately dubbed M3GAN 2.0 — is currently in development and slated for a big screen debut in early 2025. Johnstone will return to direct, with Williams and McGraw reprising the characters of Gemma and Cady, respectively.
Looking for even more killer doll fun? Check out SYFY's Chucky series — the first season of which is now streaming on Peacock. The hit series (based on the long-running Child's Play film franchise) was recently picked up for a third season.
