M3GAN 2.0 producer Jason Blum candidly weighed in on the box office failure of the sequel during its opening weekend.
Despite the massive success of the first film when it was released in early 2023, M3GAN 2.0 failed to live up to expectations financially, and it only opened with a tepid $10.2 million, far from the first film's $30 million opening.
Why Was M3GAN 2.0 a Box Office Failure?
In a recent interview on The Town podcast, Blum addressed the box office failure of M3GAN 2.0 and candidly shared his analysis on why his film failed to connect with the wide audience.
He cited the sequel's genre change as one of the reasons why M3GAN 2.0 did not work at the box office.
"We all thought M3GAN was like Superman—we could do anything to her. We could change genres, we could put her in the summer, we could make her look different, we could turn her from a bad guy into a good guy," Blum said.
"And we kind of classically overthought how powerful people’s engagement was, really, with her."
Another reason that Blum cited is the film's rushed development and production process and its summer release.
"[Director Gerard Johnstone] is someone who could solve almost anything you throw at him, but needs time. He’s just one of those directors who needs a lot of time. And on the first M3GAN, he had all the time in the world. I don’t think we even had a release date until the movie got finished," he explained.
"And on this, again, we’ve gone over our skis too far, summer movie, change the genre, set the date. We got too excited by M3GAN, and she didn’t work."
What Did Jason Blum Think of M3GAN 2.0's Box Office Failure?
Blum also shared his reaction when he learned that M3GAN 2.0 failed to make a huge splash at its box office opening.
He admitted that he had "been in pain all weekend long," but he decided to open up about their failure in the podcast.
Originally, the sequel was being tracked to open with around $45 million and potentially perform better than F1. "This tells you how bananas tracking is in this current marketplace," the producer noted.
"Clearly, there is a huge audience who is excited to go to the movie. Clearly, there is a huge audience who is excited to go to the movie," he added.
However, when the numbers continued to decline, Blum got "upset" and he went on "a death spiral of depression" before learning about the final amount.
He said, "So, it’s pretty amazing—and I think that’s a new thing about the marketplace. It’s just very different and it’s incredibly hard to get your arms around."
Despite the box office failure of the sequel, a spinoff film titled SOULM8TE is still set to release in theaters in January 2026.
What do you think of Blum's remarks about the film's box office failure? Let us know in the comments.
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