Horror icon James Wan is back at it again with another killer doll movie, this time in the form of a futuristic caretaker, M3GAN. Wan is known for creating The Conjuring Universe, which now has eight released films, including the Annabelle trilogy. This time, instead of ghosts and demons, we’ll see an overprotective sci-fi doll interpreting her commands in a rather violent way. Universal Pictures released a new featurette to promote the upcoming film, which producer James Wan refers to as “fun,” in a different type of beat compared to his previous horror films:

M3GAN is a doll that’s somewhere in the uncanny valley - lifelike enough to resemble a human, but a little too robotic to convey the full warmth of another human being. M3GAN seems nice enough at first, but the featurette teases some pretty gruesome murders as she goes after people who she considers a threat to the human she’s designed to protect - Cady.

“She’s really creepy but playful at the same time. You know, just before she’s about to cut someone in half. This movie is really fun, but it’s still a horror film.”

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

Universal Picture’s description for the video reads:

“M3GAN is a marvel of artificial intelligence, a life-like doll programmed to be a child’s greatest companion and a parent’s greatest ally. Designed by brilliant toy-company roboticist Gemma (Get Out’s Allison Williams), M3GAN can listen and watch and learn as she becomes friend and teacher, playmate and protector, for the child she is bonded to. When Gemma suddenly becomes the caretaker of her orphaned 8-year-old niece, Cady (Violet McGraw, The Haunting of Hill House), Gemma’s unsure and unprepared to be a parent. Under intense pressure at work, Gemma decides to pair her M3GAN prototype with Cady in an attempt to resolve both problems—a decision that will have unimaginable consequences.”

M3GAN Director Says Overprotective A.I. is Already Here

     Universal Pictures

The featurette might remind audiences of I, Robot, a 2004 film that similarly depicts protective robots that interpret their commands in ways their human creators never intended. The director, Gerard Johnstone, reminds us that the technology capable of making something like M3GAN is already here, it just hasn’t been assembled in such a way quite yet:

You can watch the full featurette below:

“I think people need to be reminded of the fact that this technology is here. We’re not that far from something like M3GAN existing, and that is pretty unsettling.”

M3GAN comes to theaters on January 6th, 2023, distributed by Universal Pictures. James Wan and Jason Blum serve as producers while Gerard Johnstone directs the film, which was written by Aleka Cooper. It stars Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, and Ronny Chieng.