Ballerina is finally about to make its way into theaters on June 6. As per Lionsgate, “Taking place during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, the film follows Eve Macarro (Ana de Armas), who is beginning her training in the assassin traditions of the Ruska Roma.” Joining Ana de Armas in Ballerina as John Wick newcomers Gabriel Byrne as The Chancellor, Norman Reedus as Daniel Pine, Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Eve’s mentor Nogi and Choi Soo-young, who becomes part of an early mission for Eve. Other than Keanu Reeves and Lance Reddick, Anjelica Huston returns as The Director and Ian McShane is back as Continental owner Winston Scott. The MPA has given the film an R rating – for strong/bloody violence throughout, and language.

From Apple Original Films and the filmmakers from Top Gun: Maverick comes the high-octane, action-packed feature film F1 The Movie, starring Brad Pitt and directed by Joseph Kosinski. The film is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Kosinski, seven-time FORMULA 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton, Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Chad Oman. The racing film that releases on June 27 has been Rated PG-13 for strong language, and action.

Daniel-san returns this May 30, along with Jackie Chan’s Mr. Han from the Karate Kid universe with Karate Kid Legends. The film stars Ben Wang (American Born Chinese) as a young teenager from China who finds identity and strength in martial arts. During his journey of self-discovery, Wang’s character meets a disciplined martial arts master. Joshua Jackson (Fatal Attraction) and Ming-Na Wen (The Mandalorian) also appear in the movie, alongside Sadie Stanley (Cruel Summer) as the romantic lead. Jonathan Entwistle (The End of the F***ing World) directed the movie from a script by Rob Lieber (Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day). The legacy movie has been Rated PG-13 for martial arts violence and some language.

On June 27, it’s “this b*tch vs. that b*tch” in M3GAN 2.0. Based on a story crafted by producer James Wan, M3GAN was directed by Gerard Johnstone (Housebound) from a screenplay by Akela Cooper (Malignant). Johnstone returned to the helm for the sequel, and Cooper has written the script. The tongue-in-cheek AI horror thriller is Rated PG-13 for strong violent content, bloody images, some strong language, sexual material, and brief drug references.

The post Ballerina, F1 The Movie, M3GAN 2.0 and Karate Kid Legends all receive their ratings from the MPA appeared first on JoBlo.

Now let’s get into our 10 most anticipated horror movies of Summer 2025.

Clown in a Cornfield – May 9th

Based on the book series of the same name, you’re either down for a film called “Clown in a Cornfield” or you’ve already started scrolling. It’s a pretty basic concept about Frendo the Clown taking out teenagers in a midwestern town. Chris Bumbray reviewed this a few months ago, and I was lucky enough to see it already as well, and it’s an absolute blast. This is a slasher that general audiences can really latch onto. Slasherheads needs to go in with reasonable expectations, though, as it’s rather tame overall.

Final Destination: Bloodlines – May 16th

After 13 long years, the Final Destination series finally returns! Everything that’s come out so far makes it look like they’re flipping the formula on its head and changing some rules, so I’m going into this a bit more trepidatious than others. I’m a massive fan of the franchise (as evidenced by all the videos I’ve done on it on our Horror YouTube Channel) and just hope it gets a proper return that doesn’t ruin the films that came before it. I’m grateful to get a big screen send off for Tony Todd.

Bring Her Back – May 30th

The creators of Talk To Me are back with their follow-up film, and it already has the internet abuzz. With a unique marketing campaign and an absolutely stellar leading lady in Sally Hawkins, this horror film takes a look at a brother and sister, and the terrifying ritual their foster mother is putting them through. This looks genuinely creepy in a way that few films can achieve. Here’s hoping that the Philippou Brothers pull it off again.

Dangerous Animals – June 6th

This may just be my most anticipated film of the entire summer. A serial killer that uses sharks to kill his victims? Sign me right the fuck up! Jai Courtney and Hassie Harrison star in this gripping thriller about a surfer kidnapped by a deranged psychopath and tied up on his boat. She has to escape before being fed to the hungry sharks around the boat. I adore any kind of shark thriller as they tend to be really entertaining, even if the quality is questionable (we’ll get into that later). The FX work looks great here and it looks to have a great grasp on how to utilize the sharks without them looking fake and cheap.

28 Years Later – June 20th

Danny Boyle returns to the franchise (I guess we can call it that now) that he helped create. As the title states, this is set 28 years after the original film and its outbreak, zeroing in on a small island, separated from the infection. A father (Aaron Taylor Johnson) and his son leave the safeties of the island for some sort of…manhood ritual? That’s what the trailers make it seem like. Not much longer till we find out for sure, but it sounds like we won’t see Cillian Murphy showing up in this planned trilogy until at least the second film, as he’s been confirmed to not be in this one.

M3GaN 2.0 – June 27th

This is only here because of you people, and I am absolutely dreading it. This trailer plays before damn near every single movie that I see and it has become the bane of my existence. I hated the first film and can’t stand this “wink at the camera” style of filmmaking. The fact that they’re going the T2 route, having M-3-gen (sound it out) become a hero to take down a more advanced version just has me yawning. Here’s hoping the TikTok dance was worth our cinematic integrity.

Together – August 1st

Husband/Wife duo Dave Franco and Alison Brie star in this horror film that I’ve honestly been staying away from, ever since I heard it has body horror. So let’s look at what the brief description says: “After moving to the countryside, a supernatural encounter starts to transform a couple’s love, their lives, and their flesh.” Sign me right up.

Weapons – August 8th

Steeped in mystery, Weapons definitely has one of the best marketing campaigns of any of the films on this list. We recently got an awesome trailer, and we still know very little, just that a bunch of kids in Julia Garner’s class disappeared in the middle of the night, and it looks like the town is blaming her. This is one of the most highly anticipated films of the summer and for good reason: Zach Cregger is proving to be a formidable name in the world of horror.

The Toxic Avenger – August 29th

After what feels like eternity of waiting, we’re finally getting to see Peter Dinklage as Toxie in this reboot of the cult classic. Co-starring Kevin Bacon and Elijah Wood, Macon Blair’s remake transforms a downtrodden janitor into a gross and grimey superhero. People who have seen it seem to love it, and the trailer looks like the same kind of fun we got from the Street Trash remake last year.

The Shallows (2025) – ????

Everyone remembers the Blake Lively movie from 2016 right? It was a pretty decent shark thriller that left a decent impression on folks. So I’m sure none of us expected China to remake it, and give it a Groundhog’s Day-style twist, with the shark killing our protagonist over and over again. But that’s exactly what they did and it looks absolutely glorious. This is the only film on the list without its release date officially announced but come on: like they’re not going to release a shark movie in the summer?! Keep your eyes here on JoBlo.com for the eventual release announcement and review.

What Horror Movies are YOU looking forward to seeing this Summer? Did I miss any? Let us know in the comments!

The post 2025 Summer Horror Movie Preview appeared first on JoBlo.

At the start of M3GAN, Blumhouse informed audiences that their screening would be different. Meta launched the company’s new Movie Mate technology, encouraging audiences to use their smartphone to interact with a M3GAN-themed chatbot throughout the film’s duration.

Yeah.

Variety‘s Peter Debruge was brave (and tolerant) enough to test the waters of this invasive screening method. He sat in the back row to avoid disturbing too many people with the light on his phone. Peter had a clear view of the entire theater during the presentation. Do you know what he saw? Nothing. No single person engaged with Meta’s Movie Mate app, save for two people who activated the app and then put their phones in their pockets for the remainder of the experience.

Peter managed to access Movie Mate by typing DM #H2H to @M3GAN on Instagram to get started.” The app responded, saying, “hey, Peter! miss me? ofc you did. because ur my bestie.” Next, the app said, “I’ll spill the tea about making my movi3 and tell u what rly happened while you watch.”

Unfortunately, Peter misinterpreted the timing of the film’s start, but Movie Mate couldn’t tell the difference. The app began sending Peter texts about the movie, using a roving commentary style, telling him behind-the-scenes bits about Purrpetual Pets, the product that led to M3GAN’s creation in the film. “lol. i wonder how they named m3?” the app asked.

Peter says you can text Movie Mate anything, but it doesn’t respond. Instead, it spams you with information about the film and even quizzes you about what you’ve seen/learned. As someone with hardcore ADHD, which causes me to fixate on objects that appear out of place in my direct or peripheral vision (in this case, random smartphone screens), I think this sounds like a nightmare.

You can read Peter’s complete M3GAN Meta Movie experience analysis HERE. If you ask me, Movie Mate must crawl before it can walk in theaters. Using Movie Mate feels invasive, with the experience requiring forewarning about the app’s use during the movie you’re about to see. Even then, you’d need to host specific Movie Mate screenings so casual moviegoers don’t have to contend with smartphone screens throughout the film. For heaven’s sake, there’s a PSA about not using your smartphone before every screening. BLARG!

The post The M3GAN ‘Movie Mate’ Chatbot goes off like a lead balloon as another interactive experiment fails to find an audience appeared first on JoBlo.

Blumhouse is bringing some highly anticipated horror sequels our way this year. The first of the bunch is M3GAN 2.0, which is set to reach theatres on June 27th. The Black Phone 2 follows on October 17th, then Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 will help wrap up 2025 with its December 5th release. The Universal panel was held at the CinemaCon event today, and during the panel, Blumhouse was given the chance to promote all three of these upcoming sequels.

The video game adaptation Five Nights at Freddy’s quickly became Blumhouse Productions’ highest-grossing movie when it reached theatres and the Peacock streaming service back in 2023. The first film’s director, Emma Tammi, is back at the helm for Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, working from a screenplay she wrote with Seth Cuddeback and video game creator Scott Cawthon. Josh Hutcherson returns for the sequel to play former security guard Mike Schmidt, with Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, and Matthew Lillard reprising the roles of police officer Vanessa Shelly, Mike’s sister Abby, and serial killer William Afton, respectively.

Things started getting scary at CinemaCon 2025 when Jason Blum walked onto the stage in a Five Nights at Freddy’s animatronic suit to kick the panel off. Blum reiterated that 2023’s Five Nights at Freddy’s was the studio’s most successful movie ever, with Gen Z showing up in droves to support the horror film based on the survival video game phenomenon. Blum says the Five Nights at Freddy’s sequel will not be a day-and-date VOD release, but it will still be PG-13.

Blum screened the first trailer for the crowd, and that trailer can be seen at the top of this article. The whole cast returns, and the animatronic animals are back to party harder than before. The movie looks bigger in scope and scale than the first, with the entire town becoming a playground for Five Nights at Freddy’s madness.

Back in 2021, Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, and director Scott Derrickson brought us an adaptation of the Joe Hill short story The Black Phone that appeared to tell a complete story that would stand on its own… but the film was made on a budget of around $16 million and earned over $160 million at the global box office. So, we’re getting a sequel. Derrickson wrote the screenplay for the first film with C. Robert Cargill, and Derrickson and Cargill have written the screenplay for The Black Phone 2 as well, with Derrickson returning to the helm. The Black Phone 2 sees the return of Mason Thames (How to Train Your Dragon) as Finney Shaw, Madeleine McGraw (Secrets of Sulphur Springs) as Finney’s sister Gwen, Jeremy Davies (Justified) as their dad Terrence, and Miguel Mora, whose only previous credit is The Black Phone, as Robin, a friend of Finney’s who was killed in the first movie. Ethan Hawke (Moon Knight) is reprising the role of the child-killer known as The Grabber. New additions to the cast include Demián Bichir of The Hateful Eight and Arianna Rivas has joined the cast. Rivas previously had a supporting role in the comedy Prom Dates, which was released through the Hulu streaming service earlier this year, and had her first lead role in the Jason Statham action thriller A Working Man.

After screening the Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 trailer, Blumhouse brought more details about The Black Phone 2 to the stage. Madeline McGraw was there, with Blumhouse saying she’s their rising star of the year. The Black Phone 2 is director Scott Derrickson’s first sequel. Ethan Hawke returns as The Grabber, suggesting his death wasn’t as final as we thought, even if it certainly looked that way. I mean, damn. How did he survive that beating?

A trailer for The Black Phone 2 reveals more of the film’s premise. Set in wintertime, it looks like McGraw is the one in the room this time around, with Mason Thames outside trying to save her. The sequel deals in dreams, almost like A Nightmare on Elm Street. JoBlo’s Chris Bumbray says it looks just as fun as the first.

Based on a story crafted by producer James Wan, the first M3GAN was directed by Gerard Johnstone (Housebound) from a screenplay by Akela Cooper (Malignant). Johnstone returned to the helm for the sequel, and Cooper has written the script. Allison Williams and M3GAN co-star Violet McGraw came back for the follow-up (reprising the roles of roboticist Gemma and her niece Kady), as did Brian Jordan Alvarez and Jen Van Epps (as Gemma’s associates Cole and Tess). This time, they’re joined in the cast by Ivanna Sakhno (Ahsoka), who is said to have landed a major part in the sequel, Jemaine Clement (What We Do in the Shadows), Timm Sharp (Blunt Talk), and Aristotle Athari (Saturday Night Live). Amie Donald and Jenna Davis bring M3GAN herself to life.

“Hang onto your vaginas,” says M3GAN in the latest trailer for M3GAN 2.0! Yes, indeed! The killer doll is back, and she’s not f***ing around! Two years after M3GAN went haywire and was destroyed, M3GAN’s creator, Gemma, has become a high-profile author and advocate for government oversight of AI. Meanwhile, Gemma’s niece Cady is now 14, a rebellious teenager living under Gemma’s overprotective rules. The intense trailer begins with M3GAN saying, “I admit there were some bugs in my programming. It’s hardly fair to blame me for that.”

JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray reports, “M3GAN has to fight a new AI called Amelia. She’s kind of the hero BUT she also wants to kill Alison WillIams’s character. M3GAN is first revived in a Teletubby, but Amelia is hunting Cady and she still wants to protect her. They upgrade her body to make her taller, faster and stronger. Lots of action in it. Seems more like an action flick than the last one with tons of camp humor. I dug it.”

The trailer for M3GAN 2.0 is now online as well:

The post Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 and M3GAN 2.0 trailers + Black Phone 2 info appeared first on JoBlo.

The sci-fi thriller M3GAN (read our review HERE, get a copy HERE) was such a financial success when it reached theatres in January of last year, it didn’t even take Universal Pictures and production companies Blumhouse and Atomic Monster two weeks to announce that they’d be re-teaming for a sequel. M3GAN 2.0 is set to reach theatres on June 27, 2025, and now we’be gotten our first official teaser, which you can watch embedded above. Recently, Entertainment Weekly unveiled a couple first-look images! You can check them out at the bottom of this article.

Based on a story crafted by producer James Wan, M3GAN was directed by Gerard Johnstone (Housebound) from a screenplay by Akela Cooper (Malignant). Johnstone returned to the helm for the sequel, and Cooper has written the script.

The first film has the following synopsis: She’s more than just a toy. She’s part of the family. From the most prolific minds in horror — James Wan, the filmmaker behind the Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring franchises, and Blumhouse, the producer of the Halloween films, The Black Phone and The Invisible Man — comes a fresh new face in terror.

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, 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, 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.

Williams and M3GAN co-star Violet McGraw both came back for the follow-up, as did Brian Jordan Alvarez and Jen Van Epps. This time, they’re joined in the cast by Ivanna Sakhno (Ahsoka), who is said to have landed a major part in the sequel, Jemaine Clement (What We Do in the Shadows), Timm Sharp (Blunt Talk), and Aristotle Athari (Saturday Night Live).

Details on the plot of M3GAN 2.0 are being kept under wraps, but Entertainment Weekly was able to learn that story was crafted through combining “a kernel of an idea” from Wan with an idea Johnstone had for the first movie. Johnstone said, “I had actually a different idea for the ending of M3GAN, which would’ve been interesting but probably not as satisfying. The good thing about doing a sequel is I got the chance to expand on that idea into a longer narrative. The idea James had fit really well with that. So, it was just a really good marriage of those two things.“

The director added, “It was really important that the sequel is a response to what people really loved about the first movie, but also this evolving conversation and fear that we’re having about how A.I. is changing us and changing our children and changing society. In a way, M3GAN is a personification of all of those fears.” And, yes, M3GAN is still obsessed with Cady in the new film.

M3GAN 2.0 is being produced by James Wan, Jason Blum, and Allison Williams, with Johnstone executive producing alongside Mark Katchur, Michael Clear, Judson Scott, Ryan Turek, Adam Hendricks, and Greg Gilreath.

Are you looking forward to M3GAN 2.0? Check out the images, then let us know by leaving a comment below.

The post M3GAN 2.0 gets a teaser trailer appeared first on JoBlo.

The killer AI-powered doll movie M3GAN (which gets its name from the fact that the doll is a Model 3 Generative Android) reached theatres back on January 6, 2023 – but months before the movie was even released, we were hearing that Universal Pictures was so pleased with it, sequel discussions were already underway. And less than two weeks after M3GAN made its way out into the world, Universal officially announced that we’ll be getting M3GAN 2.0 in 2025. The release date has changed a couple of times since then, moving from January 17 to May 16 to June 25, but the project has made its way through production and looks likely to stick with that June release date. In anticipation of the killer doll’s return, we have now put together a list of Everything We Know About M3GAN 2.0.

CREATIVE TEAM

The story for the original M3GAN originated from producer James Wan, with Wan’s Malignant and The Nun II collaborator Akela Cooper fleshing the idea out into a screenplay. In case you need a refresher, the first movie had the following synopsis: She’s more than just a toy. She’s part of the family. From the most prolific minds in horror — James Wan, the filmmaker behind the Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring franchises, and Blumhouse, the producer of the Halloween films, The Black Phone and The Invisible Man — comes a fresh new face in terror. 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, 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, 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.

Gerard Johnstone (Housebound) directed M3GAN and has returned to the helm for the sequel. Details on the plot of M3GAN 2.0 are being kept under wraps, but Entertainment Weekly was able to learn the story was crafted through combining “a kernel of an idea” from Wan with an idea Johnstone had for the first movie. Johnstone said, “I had actually a different idea for the ending of M3GAN, which would’ve been interesting but probably not as satisfying. The good thing about doing a sequel is I got the chance to expand on that idea into a longer narrative. The idea James had fit really well with that. So, it was just a really good marriage of those two things.“

Before M3GAN was released, Wan hinted, “I always think of a bigger world. I don’t just think of that one story; I think of the bigger world. So if we’re fortunate enough to tell any other stories, we can pull from the bigger world.“ He also talked about the “bigger world” in an interview with Collider, “What I will say to that is, in any of my movies, whether it’s The Conjuring Universe, or Saw, or Malignant, or M3GAN here, we like to think of a bigger world. For me, it’s about creating the world, and knowing who the characters are, where the story could potentially go, and then building this bigger world, and then going into that and going, ‘Okay, I’m telling this particular story, but I know other stuff that’s going on.’ So if we’re fortunate enough to have sequels, then we have an idea of where we want to go.” And when he saw that the film had a successful opening weekend, he wrote on social media, “Hopefully what all this means is that we get the chance to explore the bigger world of A.I. and perhaps witness — M3gan’s Revenge?“

During an interview with Empire Magazine, Wan said we can expect to see the sequel lean further into exploring concerns about AI. “M3GAN is coming back in a big way. The first film came just at the right time [when concerns about AI were mounting], and we’re definitely leaning into that on the next one. We’re exploring the AI universe even further.“

Before work began on the sequel, Johnstone made sure the creative team got together for a debrief on the first movie, “like a post-game analysis, and look at what worked and how we can do it again.” He told Entertainment Weekly, “It was really important that the sequel is a response to what people really loved about the first movie, but also this evolving conversation and fear that we’re having about how A.I. is changing us and changing our children and changing society. In a way, M3GAN is a personification of all of those fears.“

All we know about the script for M3GAN 2.0, which was written by Akela Cooper, is that is continues the story of “Gemma as a reluctant parent, the Frankenstein’s monster element, and the real-world parallels around A.I.” Of course, M3GAN finds a way to return, and she is said to still be very much obsessed with Cady, who might be taking after her aunt by working on robotics.

M3GAN 2.0 is being produced by James Wan, Jason Blum, and Allison Williams, with Johnstone executive producing alongside Mark Katchur, Michael Clear, Judson Scott, Ryan Turek, Adam Hendricks, and Greg Gilreath.

CAST

M3GAN stars Violet McGraw and Allison Williams are back for the sequel, reprising the roles of Cady and Gemma, respectively. Brian Jordan Alvarez and Jen Van Epps are also returning from the first movie, playing Gemma’s colleagues Cole and Tess. New additions include Ivanna Sakhno (Ahsoka), Jemaine Clement (What We Do in the Shadows), Timm Sharp (Blunt Talk), and Aristotle Athari (Saturday Night Live). When Sakhno was cast, Deadline reported that she had landed “a major part” in the sequel, but details on the character she’ll be playing haven’t been revealed.

Then there’s M3GAN, and Williams told New York Comic Con attendees that M3GAN herself is a diva. “Animatronics are, you know, temperamental. Sometimes she is rolled onto set. The vibe shifts in the room. It gets way spookier. It was fun to do it the second time. ‘Okay, so we know how this is achieved. We know how to do it.’ We can have a little bit more fun with it. And make it bigger and more expansive, without giving too much away.“ Attendees were also shown a video from M3GAN, who said, “Hi, New York Comic Con! Miss me? Sorry I couldn’t be there, because I’m slaying on set for my killer new film M3GAN 2.0. I’ve been upgraded. See you nerds in June.“

M3GAN will be sporting some new looks this time around because, as Johnstone said to Entertainment Weekly, “She’s a living doll, and part of the fun of having a doll is being able to play dress-up. We had a couple of looks in the first film, but I wanted 10 different looks for M3GAN. For the sequel, I felt like here’s a chance to do that.“

FRANCHISE

Whether or not M3GAN 2.0 is a financial success at the box office, the franchise is still going to expand, as Wan’s company Atomic Monster and Blumhouse are making a movie called SOULM8TE, which is set in the same world as the M3GAN films. 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 on board to direct 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. David Rysdahl (Oppenheimer) is playing the man, while Lily Sullivan (Evil Dead Rise) plays the android. Claudia Doumit (The Boys) is also in the cast, playing an unspecified role. SOULM8TE is set to reach theatres on January 2, 2026, about six months after M3GAN 2.0. 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. Alayna Glasthal is the executive leading the project for Atomic Monster. 

If M3GAN 2.0 is a success, chances are good that we’ll see M3GAN again, because Wan and Blumhouse have brought the world several franchises with multiple installments. There have been jokes about Chucky, Annabelle, and even Fast & Furious crossovers, but those don’t seem likely. Instead, we’ll probably just see M3GAN continue to dance and kill as the years go by. Johnstone knows what sort of sequel he would like to see down the line: “Just jokingly, whenever the producers asked me what I think about a sequel, I’ve always said M3GAN 3000. M3GAN in a Mad Max universe. I would absolutely line up to see that.“

PROMOS

A teaser trailer dropped online at the start of February:

And that’s Everything We Know About M3GAN 2.0… for now. Are you looking forward to this movie? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The post Everything We Know About M3GAN 2.0 appeared first on JoBlo.

A new year is nearly upon us – and 2025 is set to bring a whole lot of horror to our screens! So genre fans can start planning what they’re going to see over the next year, we have put together a 2025 Horror Preview, which can be seen below. Of course, at this point we don’t even know about all of the cool horror movies that will be coming our way, so you can expect to see this list get some updates as more titles are announced and more release dates revealed. For now, here’s what we have:

WOLF MAN – Theatrical, January 17

Back in 2020, director Leigh Whannell and Blumhouse Productions teamed up for a well-received update of the classic Universal Pictures horror property The Invisible Man. Now, they’re reviving another Universal monster, the Wolf Man, with the story of a man whose family is being terrorized by a lethal predator. The project was once set to star Ryan Gosling, but Christopher Abbott ended up in the lead, co-starring with Julia Garner, Matilda Firth, and Sam Jaeger.

PRESENCE – Theatrical, January 17

At the start of the year, JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray got to check out the Sundance Film Festival premiere of director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter David Koepp’s ghost story Presence, and in his 7/10 review (which you can read HERE), he described the film as “a supernatural tale that’s light on horror but heavy on heart.” The story gets rolling when a family moves into a suburban house and becomes convinced they are not alone. A supernatural force has infiltrated the house, and taken a specific interest in the couple’s daughter. The film stars Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Julia Fox, Eddy Maday, and West Mulholland.

SCREAMBOAT – Theatrical, Undated January

The earliest Mickey Mouse cartoons entered the public domain on January 1, 2024, and several filmmakers quickly pounced on the opportunity to put a horror twist on the concept of Mickey. One of the resulting films is Screamboat, which sees David Howard Thornton of the Terrifier franchise playing the horror version of the beloved mouse. This one tells the story of the story of a mischievous mouse that stalks a group of New Yorkers on a late night ferry ride, unleashing murderous mayhem on a relaxing commute. Can the ship’s motley crew of travelers find a way to stop a killer creature who has developed a taste for tourists? Directed by Steven LaMorte, who previously made the Grinch-inspired horror movie The Mean One, Screamboat also stars Tyler Posey, Kailey Hyman, Brian Quinn, Joe DeRosa, Allison Pittel, Amy Schumacher, Jesse Posey, Jesse Kove, Rumi C Jean-Louis, Jarlath Conroy, and Charles Edwin Powell.

COMPANION – Theatrical, January 31

From writer/director Drew Hancock and the team behind the 2022 horror hit Barbarian, the sci-fi thriller Companion is described as being “a new kind of love story,” but the details of that love story are still being kept under wraps. The cast includes includes Jack Quaid, Harvey Guillén, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Rupert Friend, and Sophie Thatcher.

HEART EYES – Theatrical, February 7

Christopher Landon directed the body swap slasher Freaky from a screenplay by Michael Kennedy, then produced the Kennedy-scripted time travel slasher Time Cut. Now, Landon and Kennedy have written the script for the Valentine’s Day-set horror romantic comedy Heart Eyes with Phillip Murphy (The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard), and the story is being brought to the screen by Josh Ruben, the director of Werewolves Within and Scare Me. The synopsis: When the Heart Eyes Killer strikes Seattle, a pair of co-workers pulling overtime on Valentine’s Day are mistaken for a couple by the elusive couple-hunting killer. Now they must spend the most romantic night of the year running for their lives. Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding star alongside Jordana Brewster, Devon Sawa, and Gigi Zumbado.

THE GORGE – Apple TV+, February 14

Based on a spec script by Zach Dean, The Gorge is said to be a high-action, genre-bending love story. We previously heard that it centers on two soldiers (Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller) who are tasked with guarding a seemingly never-ending gorge with one agent posted on either side. IGN revealed that Teller and Taylor-Joy play elite snipers – one American, the other Lithuanian – stationed in watchtowers on opposite sides of a vast and highly classified gorge located in a faraway land whose exact location they’re not even allowed to know. Their mission? To safeguard the outside world from an undisclosed, mysterious evil that lurks within. They bond from a distance while trying to stay vigilant in defending against an unseen enemy. When the cataclysmic threat to humanity is revealed to them, they must work together in a test of both their physical and mental strength to keep the secret in the gorge before it’s too late. Sigourney Weaver is also in the cast. Scott Derrickson directed the film.

THE MONKEY – Theatrical, February 21

Longlegs director Osgood Perkins and producer James Wan have teamed up for this Stephen King adaptation. The film will tell the following story: When twin brothers Hal and Bill discover their father’s old monkey toy in the attic, a series of gruesome deaths starts occurring all around them. The brothers decide to throw the monkey away and move on with their lives, growing apart over the years. But when the mysterious deaths begin again, the brothers must reunite to find a way to destroy the monkey for good before it takes the lives of everyone close to them. Theo James plays the twins in later years, while Christian Convery plays them in their younger days. Also in the cast are Elijah Wood, Tatiana Maslany, Colin O’Brien, Rohan Campbell, and Sarah Levy.

THE WOMAN IN THE YARD – Theatrical, March 28

The thriller The Woman in the Yard, which is coming our way from Blumhouse Productions, Universal Pictures, and director Jaume Collet-Serra, was once set to reach theatres on January 10, 2025, but it got bumped to March to make way for Wolf Man. The screenplay was written by Sam Stefanak, who was previously a staff writer and story editor on the Netflix animated series F Is for Family. Danielle Deadwyler, Okwui Okpokwasili, and Russell Hornsby star, but we haven’t seen any images of their characters. The picture of Deadwyler above is from a different movie. The story Stefanak crafted for this one goes like this: Today’s the day. A woman in black appears on a family’s front lawn and delivers a chilling warning, Where did she come from? What does she want? When will she leave?

DROP – Theatrical, April 11

Freaky and Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon takes the helm of this Blumhouse and Platinum Dunes production, which was written by Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach, a writing duo that has previously worked with Blumhouse on the horror projects Truth or Dare and Fantasy Island. Drop centers on a single mother who receives disturbing AirDrop messages from an anonymous and malicious entity threatening the safety of her son and babysitter at home. The anonymous party threatens Fahy’s character to kill her date, or else. The movie unfolds over a single night and happens in real time. Meghann Fahy stars as the single mother and is joined in the cast by Violett Beane, Brandon Sklenar, Jeffery Self, Gabrielle Ryan, and newcomer Jacob Robinson, who has a large following on his parent-run Tik Tok account.

SINNERS – Theatrical, April 18

Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever collaborators Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan are back at it with a period piece vampire thriller with the following synopsis: Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Jordan) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. “You keep dancing with the devil, one day he’s gonna follow you home.” Jordan is joined in the cast by Jack O’Connell, Delroy Lindo, Wunmi Mosaku, Hailee Steinfeld, Lola Kirke, Omar Benson Miller, Jayme Lawson, and Li Jun Li.

UNTIL DAWN – Theatrical, April 25

After going off into superhero territory for a while, Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation director David F. Sandberg has reteamed with Annabelle: Creation screenwriter Gary Dauberman for a movie based on the horror video game Until Dawn. As The Hollywood Reporter previously noted, first released in 2015, Until Dawn is an interactive horror video game that follows eight friends and frenemies who are brought together a remote mountain retreat. With live or die scenarios featuring a mysterious killer, cannibalistic wendigos, a cable car, and a long-ago mining cave-in that reverberates into the present day, the members of the group must fight through their fear if they all hope to make it through the night in one piece. The game proved to be a surprise hit with critics and received numerous gaming awards nominations. Sandberg and Dauberman haven’t revealed what exactly will be going on in their movie version of Until Dawn, but the project is described as being an “R-rated love letter to the horror genre, centering on an ensemble cast.” Dauberman’s script is a rewrite of a previous draft by Blair Butler, who wrote the vampire movie The Invitation. The film’s cast includes Ella Rubin, Odessa A’zion, Michael Cimino, Ji-young Yoo, Belmont Cameli, and Maia Mitchell. Peter Stormare is also in there, reprising his role from the video game.

CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD – Theatrical, May 9

Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil and Little Evil‘s Eli Craig directs this adaptation of the Adam Cesare novel, which centers on Quinn and her father, who have just moved to the quiet town of Kettle Springs hoping for a fresh start. Instead, she discovers a fractured community that has fallen on hard times after the treasured Baypen Corn Syrup Factory burned down. As the locals bicker amongst themselves and tensions boil over, a sinister, grinning figure emerges from the cornfields to cleanse the town of its burdens, one bloody victim at a time. Welcome to Kettle Springs. The real fun starts when Frendo the clown comes out to play. The slasher thriller stars Katie Douglas, Carson MacCormac, Aaron Abrams, Will Sasso, and Kevin Durand.

FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES – Theatrical, May 16

Fans have been waiting over a decade for a new entry in the Final Destination franchise, and while a release date for the new film hasn’t been announced yet, we do know that Final Destination: Bloodlines will be reaching theatres in 2025, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the release of the original film. It will even be on IMAX screens! According to entertainment industry scooper Daniel Richtman, Final Destination: Bloodlines has the following synopsis: Just as she’s about to leave home for college, 18 year old STEFANI, who’s been having horrific nightmares about dying in a tower accident in the 1960s, discovers that her dream is actually a premonition that happened to her grandmother, Esther, who thwarted death fifty years ago but is now running out of time. Stefani learns that though her grandmother thwarted Death (until she died in her 80s), and Death has been going after the would-have-been victims of that long-ago catastrophe, killing them off and then going after their children. Stefani and her family realize that their bloodline isn’t safe from Death, who will take them violently and gruesomely, in order, unless someone like Stefani figures out a way to stop it. Jon Watts, director of Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far from Home, and Spider-Man: No Way Home, wrote the initial treatment, which was fleshed out into a screenplay by Lori Evans Taylor and Guy Busick. The directing duo of Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein, who previously directed the 2018 film Freaks (starring Emile Hirsch and Bruce Dern) and the 2019 live-action Kim Possible movie, are at the helm. The great Tony Todd reprised the role of mortician Bludworth in this film, and was joined the cast by Brec Bassinger, Teo Briones, Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Richard Harmon, Anna Lore, Owen Patrick Joyner, Max Lloyd-Jones, Rya Kihlstedt, and Tinpo Lee.

28 YEARS LATER – Theatrical, June 20

28 Days Later director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland have finally reunited to make a sequel to their zombie (or, if you prefer, infected people) movie classic. Details on 28 Years Later were being kept under wraps, until cast member Ralph Fiennes decided to spill the beans to IndieWire. He said, “Britain is 28 years into this terrible plague of infected people who are violent, rabid humans with a few pockets of uninfected communities. And it centers on a young boy who wants to find a doctor to help his dying mother. He leads his mother through this beautiful northern English terrain. But of course, around them hiding in forests and hills and woods are the infected. But he finds a doctor who is a man we might think is going to be weird and odd, but actually is a force for good.” Fiennes is joined in the cast by Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Erin Kellyman. It has also been said that 28 Days Later star Cillian Murphy returns “in a surprising way.” The idea is that this will kick off a trilogy, and production has already wrapped on the sequel 28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple, which was directed by The Marvels and Candyman director Nia DaCosta from a Garland script.

M3GAN 2.0 – Theatrical, June 27

Violet McGraw and Allison Williams are back for the Atomic Monster / Blumhouse killer AI doll sequel M3GAN 2.0, as are Brian Jordan Alvarez and Jen Van Epps. This time, they’re joined in the cast by Ivanna Sakhno, who is said to have landed a major part in the film, Jemaine Clement, Timm Sharp, and Aristotle Athari. M3GAN director Gerard Johnstone is back at the helm, working from a screenplay by Akela Cooper.

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER – Theatrical, July 18

Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Do Revenge) is directing this legacy sequel to the 1997 slasher I Know What You Did Last Summer and its 1998 follow-up I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. This time, it’s Chase Sui Wonders, Madelyn Cline, Sarah Pidgeon, Tyriq Withers, Jonah Hauer-King, Billy Campbell, Lola Tung, Nicholas Alexander Chavez, Austin Nichols, and model / musician Gabbriette who have to deal with a hook-wielding killer. Freddie Prinze Jr. is confirmed to be reprising his role from the first two films, and Jennifer Love Hewitt was recently confirmed to be back as heroine Julie James as well. Robinson worked on the script with Leah McKendrick and journalist Sam Lansky.

THE CONJURING: LAST RITES – Theatrical, September 5

Michael Chaves, who previously directed The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, The Nun II, and the Conjuring Universe-adjacent The Curse of La Llorona, is at the helm of The Conjuring: Last Rites, working from a screenplay written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, who also wrote The Conjuring 2 and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. James Wan, the director of the first two films, remains on board as producer. Franchise stars Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga reprise the roles of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Wilson and are joined in the cast by Ben Hardy and Mia Tomlinson for what is meant to be the final Conjuring movie.

HIM – Theatrical, September 19

Justin Tipping directed Him, a Jordan Peele production that was formerly known as GOAT, with lead roles going to Marlon Wayans, Tyriq Withers, and Julia Fox. Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie’s script centers on a promising young athlete who is invited to train with a team’s retiring star. How exactly horror enters the picture is being kept under wraps. ComicBook.com has heard that the script centers on a rookie QB who goes to train with a retiring star QB who may hold a secret about how he has played so long at such a high level. So obviously the GOAT has been using unusual methods to achieve his success, and finding out about them are going to cause the rookie some trouble. Wayans plays the greatest-of-all-time athlete, while Withers plays the promising young athlete/rookie QB. Details on the character Fox plays in Him haven’t been revealed.

SAW XI – Theatrical, September 26

Saw X was one of the most well-received entries in the Saw franchise, and that film’s director, Kevin Greutert, is back at the helm for Saw XI. Greutert edited the first five Saw movies, and did the same on Jigsaw. He made his feature directorial debut with Saw VI and signed on to direct Paranormal Activity 2 after that. That movie was scheduled to be released on the same day as the seventh Saw movie, Saw 3D – so Lionsgate decided to remove Saw V director David Hackl from Saw 3D and replace him with Greutert, stealing him away from Paramount and Paranormal Activity 2. The Paranormal sequel ended up being directed by Tod Williams and was released the week before Saw 3D. Between Saw 3D and Saw X, Greutert directed the genre films Jessabelle, Visions, and Jackals. For Saw XI, Greutert is working from a screenplay by Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, who previously wrote Saw parts 4 through 7 (with Thomas Fenton also getting a story credit on Saw IV). Franchise star Tobin Bell has confirmed that his character of John Kramer, a.k.a. Jigsaw, plays “a main part” in the new sequel, as he did in Saw X.

THE BRIDE! – Theatrical, October 3

From writer/director Maggie Gyllenhaal comes The Bride!, a new take on the concept of the 1935 classic The Bride of Frankenstein. This one has the following synopsis: A lonely Frankenstein travels to 1930s Chicago to seek the aide of a Dr. Euphronius in creating a companion for himself. The two reinvigorate a murdered young woman and the Bride is born. She is beyond what either of them intended, igniting a combustible romance, the attention of the police and a wild and radical social movement. The film stars Penelope Cruz, Annette Bening, Peter Sarsgaard, Julianne Hough, John Magaro, Jeannie Berlin, and Jake Gyllenhaal, with Jessie Buckley as The Bride and Christian Bale as Frankenstein’s Monster.

THE BLACK PHONE 2 – Theatrical, October 17

Back in 2021, Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, and director Scott Derrickson brought us an adaptation of the Joe Hill short story The Black Phone (check out our review HERE) that appeared to tell a complete story that would stand on its own… but the film was made on a budget of around $16 million and earned over $160 million at the global box office. So in 2025, we’re getting a sequel, with Derrickson back at the helm. Based on a short story by Joe Hill, The Black Phone centered on Finney Shaw, a shy but clever 13-year-old boy, who is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little use. When a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring, Finney discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer’s previous victims. And they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney. If you’d like to read the short story that The Black Phone is based on, it can be found in Hill’s collection 20th Century Ghosts, which you can buy HERE. Derrickson wrote the screenplay for the first film with C. Robert Cargill, and Derrickson and Cargill have written the screenplay for The Black Phone 2 as well. The sequel will see the return of Mason Thames as Finney Shaw, Madeleine McGraw as Finney’s sister Gwen, Jeremy Davies as their dad Terrence, and Miguel Mora as Robin, a friend of Finney’s who was killed in the first movie. Ethan Hawke will be reprising the role of the child-killer known as The Grabber. New additions to the cast are Demián Bichir and Arianna Rivas.

PREDATOR: BADLANDS – Theatrical, November 7th

Prey director Dan Trachtenberg has become the first filmmaker to not only take the helm of two entries in the Predator franchise – he actually has two new Predator movies coming our way in 2025! One is wrapped in secrecy, but it’s believed to be an animated anthology that will get a streaming release. The other is a live-action feature that will get theatrical play, Predator: Badlands. According to a casting call, Predator: Badlands has the following synopsis: A groundbreaking film in which one of the two main storylines delves into the intricate bond of two very different sisters, their familial ties are put to the ultimate test as they pursue divergent paths and missions. We’ve previously heard that the story is set sometime in the future. The casting call was searching for a lead actress who could take on the dual role of twin sisters Thia and Tessa: This casting is for a dual character, and describes both characters. Character identifies as female or non-binary, open ethnicity, mid 20s – mid 40s. Thia has spent most of her life in a laboratory and is now embarking on her first big adventure in the world. She is incredibly smart, witty, enthusiastic, and unflappable. She has an innate disregard for danger, not because she’s fearless, but simply because she’s naive. Strong comedy chops required. // The other sister, Tessa, has a militant intensity when it comes to achieving her family’s goals and mission objectives. She will not let anything get in her way, not even her twin sister. These roles are being played by Elle Fanning. Speaking with Empire, Trachtenberg revealed, “The creature is front and center, leading the charge. He’s still badass, but there’s something there that touches you emotionally, too. Creating a character you connect with, but are also super-intimidated by, has been challenging. But exciting.” The idea for Predator: Badlands came from Trachtenberg’s desire to “find another essential piece of cinema that does what Prey did spiritually — pushing the franchise’s boundaries, letting us root for a hero we rarely get to root for — but in a different way. And that transformed into this big idea of rooting for the Predator.“

FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S 2 – Theatrical, December 5

The video game adaptation Five Nights at Freddy’s (read our review HERE) quickly became Blumhouse Productions’ highest-grossing movie when it reached theatres and the Peacock streaming service back in October, surpassing the likes of Split, The Invisible Man, The Black Phone, M3GAN, the recent Halloween sequel trilogy, and the Paranormal Activity, Insidious, and The Purge franchises with its haul of $295 million. So, yeah, it’s sequel time. The first film followed a troubled security guard as he begins working at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. While spending his first night on the job, he realizes the night shift at Freddy’s won’t be so easy to make it through. Stars Josh Hutcherson and Matthew Lillard are back for Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, and fans are speculating that killer animatronic characters called Toy Chica and Mangle might be in the sequel.

FEAR STREET: PROM QUEEN – Netflix, Release Date TBD

Fear Street: Prom Queen, the continuation of the Fear Street film franchise that began with the release of the trilogy of Fear Street Part One: 1994, Fear Street Part Two: 1978, and Fear Street Part Three: 1666 on the Netflix streaming service back in the summer of 2021, is coming to Netflix in 2025 – and while we don’t know the exact release date yet, we do know that the film is based on the story R.L. Stine crafted for his 1992 book The Prom Queen. Here’s the description: A spring night… soft moonlight… five beautiful Prom Queen candidates… dancing couples at the Shadyside High prom — these should be the ingredients for romance. But stir in one brutal murder — then another, and another — and the recipe quickly turns to horror. Lizzie McVay realizes that someone is murdering the five Prom Queen candidates one by one — and that she may be next on the list! Can she stop the murderer before the dance is over — for good? The official synopsis says Fear Street: Prom Queen takes us back to the town of Shadyside, Ohio, where prom season at Shadyside High is underway and the school’s wolfpack of It Girls is busy with its usual sweet and vicious campaigns for the crown. But when a gutsy outsider is unexpectedly nominated to the court, and the other girls start mysteriously disappearing, the class of ’88 is suddenly in for one hell of a prom night. The film has been directed by Matthew Palmer, who made his feature directorial debut with the 2018 Netflix thriller Calibre. Palmer wrote the screenplay with Calibre cast member Donald McLeary. The cast includes Katherine Waterston, Lili Taylor, Chris Klein, India Fowler, Suzanna Son, Fina Strazza, David Iacono, Ariana Greenblatt, and Ella Rubin.

GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S FRANKENSTEIN – Netflix, Release Date TBD

Netflix has not yet announced a release date for director Guillermo del Toro’s long-awaited passion project, an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic tale Frankenstein. The film might have the following logline: Set in Eastern Europe in the 19th Century, the story of Dr. Pretorius, who needs to track down Frankenstein’s monster- who is believed to have died in a fire forty years before–in order to continue the experiments of Dr. Frankenstein. Oscar Isaac, Mia Goth, Jacob Elordi, Christoph Waltz, and Charles Dance star, with Ralph Ineson showing up for a pivotal cameo. At one point, Andrew Garfield was in the cast, but he had to drop out and was replaced by Elordi… and it has been said that the role Garfield had passed over to Elordi was the Monster.

THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 2 (AND CHAPTER 3) – Release Dates TBD

Director Renny Harlin shot an entire trilogy of Strangers movies at the same time, and while there was a point when it looked like Lionsgate might be releasing all three of the movies within 2024, that idea was pushed aside. The Strangers: Chapter 1 (read our review HERE) reached theatres back in May, and a release date still hasn’t been announced for the sequels… but we should be getting them soon. Madelaine Petsch has the lead role in this trilogy and is joined in the cast of the films by Froy Gutierrez, Rachel Shenton, Gabriel Basso, and Ema Horvath. The Strangers: Chapter 1 centered on Petsch’s character as she drives cross-country with her longtime boyfriend (Gutierrez) to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest. When their car breaks down in Venus, Oregon, they’re forced to spend the night in a secluded Airbnb, where they are terrorized from dusk till dawn by three masked strangers. Lionsgate plans from there to expanding the story in new and unexpected ways with its sequels. Harlin has said The Strangers: Chapter 1 “is close to the original movie in its set-up of a young couple in an isolated environment in a house and a home invasion happening for random reasons.” Then Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 “explore what happens to the victims of this kind of violence and who the perpetrators are of this kind of violence. Where are they coming from and why?“

THANKSGIVING 2 – Theatrical, Release Date TBD

Sixteen years passed from the time Eli Roth made a slasher faux trailer called Thanksgiving for the Robert Rodriguez / Quentin Tarantino double feature Grindhouse to the day when a feature version of Thanksgiving (read our review HERE) finally made its way into theatres – and the fact that we’re being rewarded for our patience with not just that movie, but also a sequel that’s expected to reach theatres sometime in 2025 is truly something to be thankful about. If you’ve watched the original Thanksgiving trailer, you have a good idea of what this slasher movie is about, but here’s the synopsis: After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts – the birthplace of the infamous holiday. The script for Thanksgiving 2 is finished, filming is expected to begin in March, and several actors will be returning, including Nell Verlaque, Rick Hoffman, and Addison Rae.

THE RUNNING MAN – Theatrical, Release Date TBD

Yes, the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger movie The Running Man was awesome – but it was almost nothing like the source material, a novel written by Stephen King under his Richard Bachman pen name. So we’re looking forward to seeing what director Edgar Wright will do with his new, more faithful adaptation (written with Michael Bacall) of the novel. The film stars Glen Powell, Katy O’Brian, Daniel Ezra, Josh Brolin, Lee Pace, Michael Cera, Emilia Jones, and William H. Macy. King’s novel has the following description: It was the ultimate death game in a nightmare future America. The year is 2025 and reality TV has grown to the point where people are willing to wager their lives for a chance at a billion-dollar jackpot. Ben Richards is desperate – he needs money to treat his daughter’s illness. His last chance is entering a game show called The Running Man where the goal is to avoid capture by Hunters who are employed to kill him. Surviving this month-long chase is another issue when everyone else on the planet is watching – and willing to turn him in for the reward.

And that’s our 2025 Horror Preview… so far. What do you think of next year’s line-up of horror movies? Which ones are you most looking forward to? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The post 2025 Horror Preview: All the movies we can’t wait to see in the coming year! appeared first on JoBlo.

In an article called “Meet the Movies of 2025,” Vanity Fair has just unveiled a batch of images that go behind the scenes of several upcoming films – including genre movies like the sci-fi thriller sequel M3GAN 2.0, the Jordan Peele-produced sports horror film Him, director Scott Derrickson’s The Gorge (that’s an image from The Gorge above), and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein. Let’s take a look at them:

From M3GAN 2.0, we see an image of the killer doll M3GAN, reunited with returning M3GAN star Violet McGraw. Allison Williams is also back for the sequel, as are Brian Jordan Alvarez and Jen Van Epps. This time, they’re joined in the cast by Ivanna Sakhno (Ahsoka), who is said to have landed a major part in the sequel, Jemaine Clement (What We Do in the Shadows), Timm Sharp (Blunt Talk), and Aristotle Athari (Saturday Night Live). Gerard Johnstone is back at the helm, working from a screenplay by Akela Cooper. M3GAN 2.0 is being produced by James Wan, Jason Blum, and Allison Williams, with Johnstone executive producing alongside Mark Katchur, Michael Clear, Judson Scott, Ryan Turek, Adam Hendricks, and Greg Gilreath. The film is set to reach theatres on June 27, 2025.

Formerly known as GOAT, the sports-related horror film Him has a release date of September 19, 2025. Justin Tipping – who made his feature directorial debut with the 2016 drama Kicks – directed the film, with lead roles going to Marlon Wayans (Scary Movie), Tyriq Withers (The Game), and Julia Fox (Uncut Gems). Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie’s script centers on a promising young athlete who is invited to train with a team’s retiring star. How exactly horror enters the picture is being kept under wraps. ComicBook.com has heard that the script centers on a rookie QB who goes to train with a retiring star QB who may hold a secret about how he has played so long at such a high level. So obviously the GOAT has been using unusual methods to achieve his success, and finding out about them are going to cause the rookie some trouble. Wayans plays the greatest-of-all-time athlete, while Withers plays the promising young athlete / rookie QB. Details on the character Fox plays in Him haven’t been revealed. Jordan Peele is producing Him with Win Rosenfeld, Ian Cooper, and Jamal Watson. David Kern and Kate Oh serve as executive producers. Universal’s EVP Production Development Sara Scott and Director of Development Tony Ducret are overseeing the project for the studio.

Based on a spec script by Zach Dean, The Gorge is said to be a high-action, genre-bending love story. We previously heard that it centers on two soldiers (Anya Taylor-Joy and Miles Teller) who are tasked with guarding a seemingly never-ending gorge with one agent posted on either side. IGN revealed that Teller and Taylor-Joy play elite snipers – one American, the other Lithuanian – stationed in watchtowers on opposite sides of a vast and highly classified gorge located in a faraway land whose exact location they’re not even allowed to know. Their mission? To safeguard the outside world from an undisclosed, mysterious evil that lurks within. They bond from a distance while trying to stay vigilant in defending against an unseen enemy. When the cataclysmic threat to humanity is revealed to them, they must work together in a test of both their physical and mental strength to keep the secret in the gorge before it’s too late. Sigourney Weaver is also in the cast. David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger of Skydance Productions are producing the film with Crooked Highway’s Scott Derrickson, C. Robert Cargill, and Sherryl Clark, as well as Zach Dean, Adam Kohlbrenner, and Greg Goodman. Derrickson directed the film, which will be released through Apple TV+ sometime in 2025. The Vanity Fair image gives a behind-the-scenes look at a set piece that involved “a WWII Willys Jeep pulled up the side of a rock wall while under attack. Miles and Anya did most of their own stunts while attached to safety wires.“

Director Guillermo del Toro has been spending this year working on one of his dream projects, an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic tale Frankenstein that is set up at the Netflix streaming service. The behind the scenes image gives us a glimpse of the Frankenstein laboratory, with Frankenstein’s monster lying on the slab. Del Toro’s Frankenstein might have the following logline: Set in Eastern Europe in the 19th Century, the story of Dr. Pretorius, who needs to track down Frankenstein’s monster- who is believed to have died in a fire forty years before–in order to continue the experiments of Dr. Frankenstein. The film stars Oscar Isaac (Moon Knight), Mia Goth (Pearl), Jacob Elordi (Saltburn), Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds), and Charles Dance (Game of Thrones), with Ralph Ineson (The Witch) showing up for a pivotal cameo. At one point, Andrew Garfield was in the cast, but he had to drop out and was replaced by Elordi… and it has been said that the role Garfield had passed over to Elordi was the Monster.

What do you think of these behind the scenes images? Are you looking forward to these movies? Let us know by leaving a comment below – and if you want to see more images, from the likes of Jurassic World Rebirth, The Amateur, You’re Cordially Invited, The Wedding Banquet, Materialists, The Ballad of a Small Player, Mickey 17, Love Hurts, and Mother Mary, click over to Vanity Fair.

The post Images go behind the scenes of M3GAN 2.0, Him, The Gorge, and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein appeared first on JoBlo.

The sci-fi thriller M3GAN (read our review HERE, get a copy HERE) was such a financial success when it reached theatres in January of last year, it didn’t even take Universal Pictures and production companies Blumhouse and Atomic Monster two weeks to announce that they’d be re-teaming for a sequel. M3GAN 2.0, which is set to reach theatres on June 27, 2025, has already wrapped production – and producer Jason Blum and returning star Allison Williams were both at the New York Comic Con to hype the sequel up a bit. During the Blumhouse panel at NYCC, Williams said M3GAN 2.0 is bigger and more expansive than its predecessor.

Based on a story crafted by producer James Wan, M3GAN was directed by Gerard Johnstone (Housebound) from a screenplay by Akela Cooper (Malignant). Johnstone returned to the helm for the sequel, and Cooper has written the script.

The first film has the following synopsis: She’s more than just a toy. She’s part of the family. From the most prolific minds in horror — James Wan, the filmmaker behind the Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring franchises, and Blumhouse, the producer of the Halloween films, The Black Phone and The Invisible Man — comes a fresh new face in terror.

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, 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, 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.

Williams and M3GAN co-star Violet McGraw both came back for the follow-up, as did Brian Jordan Alvarez and Jen Van Epps. This time, they’re joined in the cast by Ivanna Sakhno (Ahsoka), who is said to have landed a major part in the sequel, Jemaine Clement (What We Do in the Shadows), Timm Sharp (Blunt Talk), and Aristotle Athari (Saturday Night Live).

Williams told NYCC attendees that M3GAN herself is a diva. “Animatronics are, you know, temperamental. Sometimes she is rolled onto set. The vibe shifts in the room. It gets way spookier. It was fun to do it the second time. ‘Okay, so we know how this is achieved. We know how to do it.’ We can have a little bit more fun with it. And make it bigger and more expansive, without giving too much away.“

Attendees were also shown a video from M3GAN, who said, “Hi, New York Comic Con! Miss me? Sorry I couldn’t be there, because I’m slaying on set for my killer new film M3GAN 2.0. I’ve been upgraded. See you nerds in June.“

M3GAN 2.0 is being produced by James Wan, Jason Blum, and Allison Williams, with Johnstone executive producing alongside Mark Katchur, Michael Clear, Judson Scott, Ryan Turek, Adam Hendricks, and Greg Gilreath.

Are you looking forward to seeing M3GAN return in a bigger sequel? Share your thoughts on M3GAN 2.0 by leaving a comment below.

The post M3GAN 2.0 is bigger and more expansive than its predecessor appeared first on JoBlo.

The sci-fi thriller M3GAN (read our review HERE, get a copy HERE) was such a financial success when it reached theatres in January of last year, it didn’t even take Universal Pictures and production companies Blumhouse and Atomic Monster two weeks to announce that they’d be re-teaming for a sequel. We’ve known that M3GAN stars Allison Williams and Violet McGraw will be reprising their roles in M3GAN 2.0, which is set to reach theatres on June 27, 2025 – and now, with filming underway, Deadline reports that Brian Jordan Alvarez and Jen Van Epps are also returning from the first movie. New additions include Ivanna Sakhno (Ahsoka), who recently landed a major part in the sequel, Jemaine Clement (What We Do in the Shadows), Timm Sharp (Blunt Talk), and Aristotle Athari (Saturday Night Live).

Based on a story crafted by produced James Wan, M3GAN was directed by Gerard Johnstone (Housebound) from a screenplay by Akela Cooper (Malignant). Johnstone is returning to the helm for the sequel, and Cooper has written the script.

The first film has the following synopsis: She’s more than just a toy. She’s part of the family.

From the most prolific minds in horror — James Wan, the filmmaker behind the Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring franchises, and Blumhouse, the producer of the Halloween films, The Black Phone and The Invisible Man — comes a fresh new face in terror.

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, 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, 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 2.0 is being produced by James Wan, Jason Blum, and Allison Williams, with Johnstone executive producing alongside Mark Katchur, Michael Clear, Judson Scott, Ryan Turek, Adam Hendricks, and Greg Gilreath.

Are you looking forward to M3GAN 2.0? What do you think of the cast that has been assembled for the film? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The post M3GAN 2.0: Jemaine Clement and more join cast as filming begins appeared first on JoBlo.

James Wan built the Conjuring Universe out of his 2013 film The Conjuring, producing sequels (The Conjuring 2, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, the upcoming The Conjuring: Last Rites), spin-offs (Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation, Annabelle Comes Home, The Nun, The Nun II, and almost The Crooked Man, but that one was scrapped), a Universe-adjacent film (The Curse of La Llorona), and now there’s a TV series in the works. And it looks like he’s interested in doing something similar with the 2022 film M3GAN. While the sequel M3GAN 2.0 is in the works and aiming for a June 27, 2025 theatrical release, Deadline reports that the recently merged companies Atomic Monster (headed up by Wan) and Blumhouse Productions (headed up by Jason Blum) are developing SOULM8TE, “a new movie in the M3GAN universe.” Universal Pictures has already picked out a release date for the film: January 2, 2026.

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 on board to direct 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.

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. Alayna Glasthal is the executive leading the project for Atomic Monster. 

Dolan provided the following statement: “Fundamentally, I view this film as an exploration of relationships and loneliness. Despite technological advances, there are enduring human truths we cannot escape, and I am looking forward to delving into those depths.” Wan added: “SOULM8TE is a thrilling and seductive addition to the M3GAN universe. We’re excited to partner with Kate to bring this story to life with her unique cinematic vision and point of view.“

SOULM8TE is being described as a 1990s erotic thriller with a new technological twist.

What do you think of Atomic Monster and Blumhouse Productions expanding the M3GAN universe with SOULM8TE? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.

The post SOULM8TE: Atomic Monster and Blumhouse plot another film set in the M3GAN universe appeared first on JoBlo.

Universal Pictures has just announced (via Deadline) release dates – in some cases, new release dates for movies that are shifting around on their schedule – for five upcoming horror films… and every one of them happens to be a Blumhouse production. The movies in question are The Woman in the Yard, Drop, The Black Phone 2, M3GAN 2.0, and Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 – and we’re about to go through them one-by-one.

First up is the thriller The Woman in the Yard, which was once set to reach theatres on January 10, 2025, but was bumped out of that date so the Blumhouse reboot of Wolf Man could move from this October to January 17th. Jaume Collet-Serra is directing the film, which stars Danielle Deadwyler of The Devil to Pay and Till, Okwui Okpokwasili of The Exorcist: Believer and I Am Legend, and Russell Hornsby of The Hate U Give and Fences. The screenplay was written by Sam Stefanak, who was previously a staff writer and story editor on the Netflix animated series F Is for Family, but details on the story are being kept under wraps. The Woman in the Yard is now set to reach theatres on March 28, 2025.

Next is the “fast-paced thriller” Drop, which Blumhouse is producing with Platinum Dunes. Freaky and Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon is at the helm of this one, working from a screenplay by Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach, a writing duo that has previously worked with Blumhouse on the horror projects Truth or Dare and Fantasy Island. Again, plot details are being kept secret for now. The film stars Meghann Fahy (The White Lotus season 2), Violett Beane (The Flash), Brandon Sklenar (1923), Jeffery Self (The Horror of Dolores Roach), Gabrielle Ryan (Power Book IV: Force), and newcomer Jacob Robinson, who has a large following on his parent-run Tik Tok account. Universal will be giving Drop a theatrical release on April 11, 2025.

Previously scheduled to be released on June 27, 2025, director Scott Derrickson’s The Black Phone 2 is moving to October 17, 2025, so M3GAN 2.0 has moved back from May 16 to the June 27, 2025 date The Black Phone 2 vacated. The M3GAN sequel seems to be coming together more slowly than expected, as it was once meant to reach theatres in January of 2025.

Based on a short story by Joe Hill, The Black Phone centered on Finney Shaw, a shy but clever 13-year-old boy, who is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little use. When a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring, Finney discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer’s previous victims. And they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney. If you’d like to read the short story that The Black Phone is based on, it can be found in Hill’s collection 20th Century Ghosts, which you can buy HERE. The first film covered Hill’s entire story, so we have no idea where Derrickson and co-writer C. Robert Cargill will be taking us in the sequel. We do know that The Black Phone 2 is set to star returning cast members Mason Thames as Finney Shaw, Madeleine McGraw as Finney’s sister Gwen, Jeremy Davies as their dad Terrence, and Miguel Mora, whose only previous credit is The Black Phone, as Robin, a friend of Finney’s who was killed in the first movie. Plus, yes, Ethan Hawke will be reprising the role of the child-killer known as The Grabber.

Directed by Gerard Johnstone (Housebound) from a screenplay by Akela Cooper (Malignant), based on a story crafted by producer James Wan, M3GAN had the following synopsis: She’s more than just a toy. She’s part of the family. From the most prolific minds in horror — James Wan, the filmmaker behind the Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring franchises, and Blumhouse, the producer of the Halloween films, The Black Phone and The Invisible Man — comes a fresh new face in terror. 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, 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, 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.

Johnstone is returning to the helm for the sequel, and Cooper has written the script. M3GAN stars Allison Williams and Violet McGraw will be reprising their roles in M3GAN 2.0, and Ivanna Sakhno of the Star Wars show Ahsoka recently landed a major part in the film.

The video game adaptation sequel Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 now has a December 5, 2025 release date. Five Nights at Freddy‘s director Emma Tammi is back at the helm for the sequel, and star Josh Hutcherson is expected to return. The video game takes place in Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a darker version of Chuck-E-Cheese, where an animatronic animal band performs kiddy songs by day, and goes on murderous rampages by night. The goal of the game is survive a night locked inside, knowing that a furry death machine might jump out of the dark at any moment.

What do you think of the release dates Universal has chosen for these Blumhouse productions? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The post Universal picks release dates for Blumhouse films Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, The Black Phone 2, M3GAN 2.0 & more appeared first on JoBlo.

The sci-fi thriller M3GAN (read our review HERE, get a copy HERE) was such a financial success when it reached theatres in January of last year, it didn’t even take Universal Pictures and production companies Blumhouse and Atomic Monster two weeks to announce that they’d be re-teaming for a sequel. We’ve known that M3GAN stars Allison Williams and Violet McGraw will be reprising their roles in M3GAN 2.0, which is set to reach theatres on May 16, 2025, and now Deadline reports that they’re being joined in the cast by Ivanna Sakhno, who is said to have landed a major part in the sequel.

Sakhno’s previous credits include Ivan the Powerful, Can’t Take It Back, The Body Tree, Pacific Rim: Uprising, The Spy Who Dumped Me, High Fidelity, Let It Snow, The Reunion, and the Star Wars series Ahsoka. Details on the character she’ll be playing in M3GAN 2.0 haven’t been revealed.

Based on a story crafted by produced James Wan, M3GAN was directed by Gerard Johnstone (Housebound) from a screenplay by Akela Cooper (Malignant). Johnstone is returning to the helm for the sequel, and Cooper has written the script.

The first film has the following synopsis: She’s more than just a toy. She’s part of the family.

From the most prolific minds in horror — James Wan, the filmmaker behind the Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring franchises, and Blumhouse, the producer of the Halloween films, The Black Phone and The Invisible Man — comes a fresh new face in terror.

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, 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, 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 2.0 is being produced by James Wan, Jason Blum, and Allison Williams, with Johnstone executive producing alongside Mark Katchur, Michael Clear, Judson Scott, Ryan Turek, Adam Hendricks, and Greg Gilreath.

Are you looking forward to M3GAN 2.0? What do you think of Ivanna Sakhno joining the cast? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The post Ivanna Sakhno lands a major role in M3GAN 2.0 appeared first on JoBlo.