M3GAN Spinoff ‘Soulm8te” Canned By Universal Three Weeks Before Release

:Last year, before the release of M3GAN 2.0, Universal Studios announced a spinoff of sorts was on the way, an “erotic thriller” called Soulm8te. Despite sounding like it had little to do with either M3GAN film at all, the globe just got cold feet at the eleventh hour. It was supposed to be released January 9, but has now been pulled from the schedule indefinitely.

Soulm8te is about a man whose wife dies and, rather than accepting the loss, he creates an android replacement of her. Does it go wrong? You bet it does.  “In an attempt to create a truly sentient partner, he inadvertently turns a harmless lovebot into a deadly soulmate,” the official description says.

Kate Dolan, the director of Soulm8te, said her movie was “an exploration of relationships and loneliness…Despite technological advances, there are enduring human truths we cannot escape, and I am looking forward to delving into those depths.” Hope she wasn’t looking forward to it TOO much.

This doesn’t mean Soulm8te will never see the light of day; it means Universal no longer has an interest in releasing it themselves. They say they’re now shopping the movie around to other companies. Where it will wind up now is anyone’s guess.

This may have not been a rushed decision…when trying to find some kind of image for Soulm8te to garnish this article, I uncovered nothing. There’s been no promotion for this movie at all and if they ever had intent of releasing it in January, screenshots would have been shipped to the press months ago. Everyone’s just using images of M3GAN for their articles and I guess I will too, even though that makes no sense. Soulm8te sounds like a different kind of thing!

M3GAN 2.0 is called a “disappointment” but it did turn a profit, earning $39 million on a production budget of $25 million. The problem with that is, M3GAN 1.0 grossed $181 million. It also opened low compared to its competition and didn’t stay in the Top 10 for long. To my dismay, Blumhouse‘s Jason Blum immediately expressed regret that M3GAN 2.0 tried new things and expanded the lore instead of serving up the same thing as the first movie. No, Jason, no! You did it right! It just got overshadowed due to the packed summer schedule!

I fear that, if there is ever a M3GAN 3.0, it’ll be a regression and a simple regurgitation of the original, ignoring her character growth and anything else. But things like this are a sign it may not happen anyway.