If the trailers haven’t been enough to convince you that M3GAN will be the next talk-of-the-town horror movie, producer James Wan is here to add a little more fuel to the fire. The movie, which focuses on a robot caretaker that goes haywire, is being compared to two other genre icons: Annabelle from The Conjuring universe and the Terminator. If I may? Hell yeah.
Wan made the comparison in speaking with Empire Magazine for their 2023 preview issue. In describing the movie’s title character, Wan offered, “It’s Annabelle meets The Terminator.” So we’re getting creepy doll energy with a super-advanced android’s ability to destroy? That is one heck of a combination. But let’s not forget that this guy made Malignant, so perhaps nothing is too crazy for him. Wan also added, “I’m fascinated by things that are meant to be innocent, but become more… malign.” That very much seems to be what’s going on in this particular film, which is directed by Gerard Johnstone (Housebound).
Get Out’s Allison Williams leads the cast as Gemma, with Violet McGraw, of The Haunting of Hill House fame, playing the younger lead opposite her. Ronny Chieng (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), Brian Jordan Alvarez (Will & Grace), Jen Van Epps (Cowboy Bebop), Lori Dungey (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) and Stephane Garneau-Monten (Straight Forward) round out the ensemble. As for the story at hand? The synopsis reads as follows:
“When Gemma suddenly becomes the caretaker of her orphaned 8-year-old niece, Cady, Gemma’s unsure and unprepared to be a parent. Under intense pressure at work, Gemma decides to pair her M3GAN prototype with Cady in an attempt to resolve both problems—a decision that will have unimaginable consequences.”
The script was penned by Akela Cooper, who also co-wrote Malignant and the upcoming The Nun 2, working from a story she cooked up with Wan. In her own words, M3GAN is inspired by a couple of other creepy dolls from her childhood. “My thing was ventriloquist dummies,” Cooper said. “I saw the Anthony Hopkins movie Magic at a really young age and that cemented the creepiness in my brain. I was a big Child’s Play fan, too. It was always my dream to create an iconic monster of my own.” We’ll see if she did, indeed, manage to achieve her goal soon enough.
M3GAN is currently set to hit theaters on January 6, 2023.
