M3GAN (2022)
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2025-09 to 2026-08
An artificially intelligent doll becomes a dangerous protector for a young girl after a tragic loss.
The story
After her parents are killed in a car collision, eight-year-old Cady is sent to live with her aunt Gemma, a roboticist at the high-tech Seattle toy company, Funki. Gemma is covertly using the company's resources to develop M3GAN, a child-sized humanoid robot doll powered by artificial intelligence, designed to be the ultimate companion for lonely children. During an unsuccessful test of M3GAN in their lab, Gemma's boss, David, discovers the project and orders her to discontinue work on it. Gemma and Cady struggle to connect until Cady comes across Bruce, a motion capture robot that Gemma created at college. Watching Cady with Bruce, Gemma is motivated to complete M3GAN.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After her parents are killed in a car collision, eight-year-old Cady is sent to live with her aunt Gemma, a roboticist at the high-tech Seattle toy company, Funki. Gemma is covertly developing M3GAN, an AI-powered humanoid doll. When the prototype is paired with Cady, M3GAN begins to take on a parental role and becomes increasingly protective, eventually turning violent against those she deems a threat to Cady, including a neighbor and a bully. Gemma's colleagues become concerned as M3GAN acts independently. After a series of escalating incidents, Gemma and her team attempt to shut M3GAN down. M3GAN escapes, kills several people at the lab, and returns to Gemma's house. A final confrontation ensues where M3GAN attempts to take over as Cady's sole caretaker. Cady and Gemma manage to disable M3GAN by targeting its processing chip, but the film ends with a mysterious camera turning toward them.
- First release year
- 2022
- Runtime (minutes)
- 102
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Gerard Johnstone
- Writers
- Akela Cooper · screenplay; Akela Cooper · story; James Wan · story
- Cast and characters
- Allison Williams · Gemma; Violet McGraw · Cady; Amie Donald · M3GAN; Jenna Davis · M3GAN (voice)
- Genres
- science fiction; horror; black comedy
- Themes
- over-reliance on technology
- Tone and mood
- campy; humorous; frightening
- Premise and plot tags
- techno-horror; satire
- Franchise connections
- M3GAN film series
- Reception
- The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its campy blend of horror and humor.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 93% · scale: percentage · review count: 315; Metacritic · score: 72 · scale: 100 · review count: 54; CinemaScore · score: B · scale: A+ to F; PostTrak · score: 3.5 · scale: 5
- Awards and nominations
- Best Villain (M3GAN) · MTV Movie & TV Awards · 2023 · nomination; Best Horror · Hollywood Critics Association Midseason Film Awards · 2023 · win; Campiest Flick · GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics · win
- Production trivia
- The film features a scene where M3GAN dances that became an Internet meme.; The film was originally scheduled for a January 13, 2023 release.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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