SOULM8TE: film set in the M3GAN universe earns an R rating for strong violence, gore, and more

Last April, Blumhouse Productions spent some time in the spotlight during the Universal panel at the CinemaCon event in Las Vegas, and JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray was there to witness an early preview of SOULM8TE, which is “a new movie in the M3GAN universe” that was set to reach theatres on January 2, 2026… but then, M3GAN 2.0 underperformed and SOULM8TE was dropped from the release calendar. We still don’t know when the movie is going to make its way out into the world – but now we know that it’s rated R.

Background

The M3GAN movies and SOULM8TE come from the recently merged companies Atomic Monster (headed up by James Wan) and Blumhouse Productions (headed up by Jason Blum).

James Wan, his wife Ingrid Bisu, and Rafael Jordan (Salvage Marines) crafted the story for this one, with Jordan writing the first draft of the screenplay. Kate Dolan (You Are Not My Mother) is directing the film and has done her own rewrite of the script. 

SOULM8TE will show us what happens when a man acquires an Artificially Intelligent android to cope with the loss of his recently deceased wife. In an attempt to create a truly sentient partner, he inadvertently turns a harmless lovebot into a deadly soulmate. 

The film stars Evil Dead Rise actress Lily Sullivan, Claudia Doumit of The Boys, and David Rysdahl, whose credits include Fargo season 5, The Family, No Exit, Black Mirror, Oppenheimer, and Booger. Rysdahl is playing the man, while Sullivan plays the android. Details on the role Doumit will be playing have not been revealed.

James Wan and Jason Blum are producing SOULM8TE, while Michael Clear and Judson Scott of Atomic Monster serve as executive producers with with Ingrid Bisu and M3GAN cast member Allison Williams. Alayna Glasthal is the executive leading the project for Atomic Monster.

Preview

Bumbray reported, “Seems similar to Companion. Centers on a sexbot that becomes so obsessed with her “owner” that she kills anyone close to him and goes on a murder spree. Looks more violent (and kinkier) than M3GAN but has the same humor. When a woman she’s about to kill says ‘Women aren’t supposed to be pitted against each other,’ she answers, ‘Don’t start that girl power shit with me.’”

The film has been described as “Fatal Attraction with robots.”

Rating

The Motion Picture Association ratings board has announced that they’ve given SOULM8TE an R rating for strong violence, gore, sexual content, graphic nudity, and language. This sets it apart from both of the M3GAN movies in a major way, because those were PG-13.

Are you interested in SOULM8TE, and are you glad to hear that it’s rated R? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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