'M3GAN' Spin-off Dropped From Release Calendar Following Failed Sequel

The M3GAN spin-off SOULM8TE has just been dropped from the January release calendar, and is now no longer set for release.

via: Deadline

Universal, we understand, is pulling the Blumhouse and Atomic Monster sci-fi thriller Soulm8te from its Jan. 9 release calendar next year.

We hear that the studio is shopping the Kate Dolan-directed movie, which was originally billed as being connected to the M3GAN universe. While that first 2022 PG-13 killer doll movie was a sensation with an $180M global gross and near $80M profit, M3GAN 2.0 didn’t have the juice this summer with a bigger budget than the first film ($25M net vs. $12M) and significantly less ticket sales ($39M WW). No word on where Soulm8te will land.

Paramount’s Walter Hamada 18Mhz genre title Primate moved onto Soulm8te‘s release date, hence, it was bound to move at some point. Two major studios wouldn’t pit two horror films against each other on the same weekend.

In Soulm8te, a man acquires an artificially intelligent android to cope with the loss of his recently-deceased wife. In an attempt to create a truly sentient partner, he inadvertently turns a harmless lovebot into a deadly soulmate. Soulm8te stars Claudia Doumit, Lily Sullivan, Isabelle Bonfrer, Emma Ramos, Sydney Blackburn among others.

The pic was billed as being inspired by the classic erotic thrillers of the 1990s. Dolan is the writer-director of the 2021 indie horror film You Are Not My Mother.

Soulm8te is produced by Atomic Monster’s James Wan and Blumhouse’s Jason Blum. Wan, Ingrid Bisu (Malignant) and Rafael Jordan (Salvage Marines) wrote the story with Dolan and Jordan penning the screenplay. Pic is executive produced by Michael Clear and Judson Scott for Atomic Monster and by Bisu.

Blumhouse and Atomic Monster had major success recently with Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 which with a $64M U.S./Canada opening repped a record debut in the post-Thanksgiving frame. The sequel based on the Scott Cawthon videogame is up to $96.8M domestic, $175M worldwide at the box office. Altogether the running cume on both Freddy’s movies is $466.5M. Freddy’s 2 was also the biggest December horror movie opening ever, the biggest December opening ever for Uni, and the second-largest horror opening of 2025 behind Blumhouse-Atomic Monster’s own The Conjuring: Last Rites at $84M.