M3GAN shatters box office projections and nearly triples its budget in opening weekend

James Wan’s new horror film M3GAN has shattered initial domestic box office projections and nearly tripled its budget in its opening weekend alone.

Talk about underpromising and overdelivering.

According to Variety, the new camp-stylised horror flick was predicted to only rake in USD $17-20 million (AUD $24.5- 28.9m) from 3,509 theaters in the United States within the first weekend of January.

However, M3GAN generated a staggering USD $11.7 million (AUD $16.9m) on its first day.

Despite only having a USD $12 million (AUD $17.3m) budget, M3GAN went on to earn USD $30.2 million (AUD $43.6m) within its opening weekend, placing right behind Avatar: The Way of Water.

The film is yet to be released internationally, but, given those numbers, it’s expected to have a huge overall box office performance.

M3GAN follows Gemma, played by Alison Williams (Get Out), who becomes the unexpected caretaker of her 8-year-old recently orphaned niece, Cady.

Gemma enlists the help of a M3GAN prototype - a robot doll that uses AI - with her prime directive to 'physically and emotionally protect Cady'.

Cady quickly becomes attached to M3GAN, which results in the robot becoming more self-aware, and the consequences are lethal, to say the least.

The film also stars Ronny Chieng (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), Brian Jordan Alvarez (Will & Grace), Jen Van Epps, Lori Dungey, and Stephane Garneau-Monten.

Universal Pictures

Gerard Johnstone directed the film, with the story developed by Akela Cooper (Malignant and The Nun 2) and the king of modern horror, James Wan (The Conjuring universe, Saw and Insidious).

Aside from absolutely shattering box office projections, the movie is being praised by critics, even achieving an impressive 93 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Carla Hay from Culture Mix commended the film for blending multiple film genres effortlessly.

She wrote: “It’s a campy, creepy and comical horror romp that delivers more laughs than genuine scares.”

Washington City Paper writer Sarah Marloff said M3GAN has spawned a different type of villain modern audiences will love.

She wrote: “Gerard Johnstone’s movie is proof that, in 2023, Chucky and Annabelle don’t need an evil spirit to be possessed, they just need endless access to the internet.”

While Aurora Amidon from Paste Magazine labelled the chilling AI robot as ‘one of the greatest horror icons of recent years’.

Do I smell a franchise here?