He has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal of introducing audiences to a whole new world of cinema.
Forget the DC Universe, perhaps the biggest overestimation of a franchise's popularity happened only a year or so ago, when Universal's M3GAN 2.0 drastically fell short of its predecessor's box-office benchmark. The sequel grossed around $40 million worldwide against a reported budget of approximately $20 million, only two years after the first M3GAN emerged as a box-office sensation with $181 million globally on a $12 million budget. The central creative team — director Gerard Johnstone, writer Akela Cooper, and producers Jason Blum and James Wan — was the same, but the movie made the curious decision to switch genres. This, among many other reasons, was why it failed at the box office. The trouble was that Universal had a third installment, a spin-off, ready to go. The film's release was canceled, and it was eventually released directly on the PVOD market a few weeks ago.
The movie didn't make much noise upon its release this August, but it finally seems to be gaining steam on Hulu. According to FlixPatrol, it's currently among the five most-watched movies on the streamer's domestic rankings, behind Jamie Foxx's new comedy special and the cult classic animated film Coraline. The film stars Lily Sullivan, who has emerged as a scream queen in recent years, thanks to roles in the box-office hit Evil Dead Rise and Lee Cronin's The Mummy. The M3GAN spin-off received mixed reviews from critics, and is now sitting at a 39% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you're capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you've always believed there's a third option nobody else has thought of yet.
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you're fearless, but because giving up simply isn't something you're capable of.
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone's hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.
You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.
We're talking about SOULM8TE, directed by Kate Dolan. Like the two previous M3GAN films, it deals with the hot-button topic of artificial intelligence, which has emerged as a major theme in recent films. In addition to the mega-budget Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning and Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, a variety of films across genres have explored the ramifications of AI. Luca Guadagnino's upcoming Artificial, starring Andrew Garfield, is one of this year's major awards contenders, while Taika Waititi is preparing to make his directorial comeback with the sci-fi movie Klara and the Sun, slated for release this month. You can watch SOULM8TE on Hulu, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
