M3GAN director Gerard Johnstone says his annoyance with children's growing reliance on technology inspired him to tackle Blumhouse's latest horror offering.
"I was a new dad and struggling to parent in the age of technology," Johnstone told SFX. "I was so angry about how pervasive iPads and cellphones were, and how no one was really talking about it. And essentially M3GAN is an iPad with legs."
The filmmaker continued: "I was having all these anxieties, and I just felt like the world was moving so fast and we needed to really understand what we were doing to our kids before we just stick all this technology [in front of them]." Johnstone also spoke about the increased presence of technology in modern classrooms. "Suddenly schools just became all about iPads. It was hard and I was getting really frustrated with it," he said. "So M3GAN's a chance for me to just put all of those annoyances on screen and make a really fun technology-run-amok movie."
It appears the majority of audiences and critics are on board with Johnstone's vision as M3GAN currently holds a 95% critic score and a 78% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. The only Blumhouse movie to score higher with critics is Jordan Peele's 2018 Academy Award-winning Get Out, which holds a 98%. The majority of reviews have cited M3GAN's balance of horror and comedy as its strongest asset.
Producers Jason Blum and James Wan recently spoke about the delicate balance between the two genres. "If [horror movies are] fun, they're scarier because you get relaxed, and you forget you're in a horror movie for a second," Blum said. "As soon as you forget you're in a horror movie, and then you get scared, it's way worse." Wan added, "I think certain ones, you can obviously lean more into the fun, but what's great about horror -- the horror genre in general and what Jason and I love about it -- is it's not just what's on the surface. Most of the films that we make, we see something, and we have something to say."
M3GAN Vs. Annabelle
In the spirit of fun, the producing partners also discussed who would win in a fight between M3GAN and Annabelle from The Conjuring Universe. "This is what I'll say -- the distinguishing difference is M3GAN is a physical doll that gets up and walks around. She's an AI machine. She can do that," Wan said. "Annabelle is just a doll. She's a possessed doll. She doesn't actually hit anyone. It's the demon that is latched onto her." Blum agreed, concluding, "Yeah, no contest. It's M3GAN."
However, Annabelle may still have the advantage when it comes to opening numbers. Box office analysts predict that M3GAN will make between $17-20 million in its opening weekend. In comparison, Annabelle and Annabelle: Creation opened to $37.1 million and $35 million, respectively. That said, the higher end of M3GAN's expectations would nearly match the $20.3 million opening of Blumhouse's third Annabelle-centric film, Annabelle Comes Home. In addition, analysts expect M3GAN to have the biggest opening since Avatar: The Way of Water.
M3GAN is now in theaters.
Source: SFX