The 2022 horror movie M3GAN was a massive box office success, especially considering its low budget, resulting in huge profits for Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions. Even before M3GAN premiered, the murderous robot doll character had become a social media sensation. A clip in the trailer where M3GAN danced to Taylor Swift's "It's Nice To Have A Friend" had been going viral for months before the movie hit theaters. Further promotion of M3GAN had social media s talking about it even more.
Widely released in January 2023, the horror movie was praised for its use of horror and comedy to create a camp masterpiece. Allison Williams, best known for playing Marnie on the HBO series Girls, gave a stellar performance alongside Violet McGraw, who portrayed the young girl who befriends the robot doll. With all its success, Blumhouse announced in January that a sequel titled M3GAN 2.0 would be coming in January 2025. Despite being destroyed at the end of M3GAN, the doll will return in the sequel, as will Williams and McGraw.
M3GAN's Budget Was $12 Million
M3GAN had a pretty small budget at $12 million dollars. This wasn't Blumhouse Production's lowest budget for a recent theatrical feature, as their 2019 horror movies Ma and Black Christmas were each made for $5 million and the 2020 body-swapping slasher Freaky cost $6 million. Still, compared to many other horror films, M3GAN's budget was significantly low. Scream VI, which was released in 2023, had a budget of $35 million, while 2022's Halloween Ends had a budget of $33 million. These sequels are both part of well-known franchises, though, while M3GAN is the first of its series.
The low budget given to M3GAN did not have a negative impact on the CGI needed to bring the titular killer doll to life. M3GAN looked as creepy and life-like as she could, and with all the money the movie made, the filmmakers likely aren't upset with the minimal amount spent to effectively achieve their goal.
M3GAN Made A Box Office Profit Of $167.1 Million
M3GAN made a significant amount of money for a film that isn't part of a horror franchise. M3GAN grossed $179.1 million at the box office worldwide (via Box Office Mojo), which is $10.1 million more than Scream VI grossed. Since the movie only had a $12 million budget, M3GAN earned a profit of as much as $167.1 million. M3GAN's numbers are impressive, and it's understandable why the movie was given a sequel so soon. If fans continue to love M3GAN, the sequel will do just as well.
