James Wan Compares M3GAN to Annabelle and the Terminator

In the past, we’ve already witnessed the effective killer doll potential of the Child’s Play era via Chucky and the silent yet very possessed Annabelle from The Conjuring, so it’s finally about time for something more modern. Fortunately, in less than a month, the constantly trending film M3GAN will arrive in theaters, with a chance to cue laughs, scares, impromptu dances, and more, marking the new era of a killer doll. But don’t be mistaken; she’s not gearing up to be your typical murderous doll on a rampage…

So why does M3GAN offer the perfect opportunity to play into some genre fans’ innate nightmare fuel? Well, for starters, she’s going to be pretty ruthless, according to one of the film’s all-important creatives.

Wan Believes M3GAN is Different from Other Killer Dolls

During a new chat with superstar horror mastermind James Wan via EW, Wan discussed the origin of M3GAN and told the publication, “One of the things we like to do at [our production company] Atomic Monster is, at the end of the week, sit around and chat about films. At one of these sessions, we came up with the idea of doing a killer doll movie. We joke that I get branded a lot as the killer doll guy, but I’ve never technically made a movie about a doll that kills — it’s always possessed by some sort of evil spirit,” Wan tells the publication before further explaining, “We thought it would be fun to do a movie that is basically Annabelle meets the Terminator.”

Savage aside, the constant hilarity behind her dance, humor, and overall duality has been a major marketing aid for the film that’s clearly not lost on those involved. In the same EW interview with the upcoming film’s cast and crew, star (and producer) Allison Williams addressed the internet buzz surrounding the titular villain and it essentially surpassing all expectations, divulging, “We had internally come up with memes to distribute, but we didn’t end up needing to deploy them, because people started making their own. You can’t even dream that big when you’re doing something like this. That was just such an exciting day. It was proof of concept.”

M3GAN will be released in theaters starting on January 13, 2023.