“M3GAN 2.0” is bringing its eponymous killer robot back, and this time, it is giving her another murderous android to fight.
The bonkers new “M3GAN 2.0” trailer begins with the titular M3GAN (played again by Amie Donald and voiced by Jenna Davis) reflecting on her actions in the sequel’s 2023 predecessor and confessing, “I’ll admit: There were some bugs in my programming.” That is a bit of an understatement, but it turns out that her attempt to kill her creator, Gemma (Allison Williams), and “raise” Gemma’s young niece, Cady (Violet McGraw), on her own was not bad enough to stop her from being re-awoken in “M3GAN 2.0.”
Williams’ Gemma is forced to bring M3GAN back — first in the form of a “plastic teletubby” and later with an upgraded, taller humanoid design — in order to combat Amelia (“Ahsoka” star Ivanna Sakhno), a robot created with Gemma’s original M3GAN technology who has gone rogue and begun to hunt down everyone involved in her creation. It is a battle that, as the “M3GAN 2.0” trailer cheekily puts it, pits “this b—h vs. that b—h.”
Check out the full trailer, which is set almost entirely to Britney Spears’ “Oops!…I Did It Again,” below.
“M3GAN” became an unlikely hit when it hit theaters in early 2023. It earned mostly positive reviews and grossed over $180 million at the worldwide box office, a particularly impressive number given the film’s reported $12 million budget. “M3GAN 2.0,” consequently, looks bigger and more expensive. Its trailer highlights multiple action sequences, including one aerial dive that sees M3GAN soar through a treacherous canyon.
The sequel is directed once again by “M3GAN” director Gerard Johnstone, and it is based on a screenplay co-written by him and “M3GAN” screenwriter Akela Cooper. Johnstone and Cooper do not seem to have held back at all, either.
If the first “M3GAN” was influenced by horror comedies like “Child’s Play,” then “M3GAN 2.0” looks more like a cross between a “Power Rangers” film and “Alita: Battle Angel.” It seems, in other words, more well-suited to its prime summer release date than even fans of the first “M3GAN” may have expected.
“M3GAN 2.0” hits theaters on Friday, June 27.
