The Forgotten Third Movie In The M3GAN Franchise Is Surging On Streaming

The movie "M3GAN" took social media by storm upon its release in 2022. Audiences thought the dancing killer child robot was funny, driving people to theaters, resulting in $180 million at the world box office against a $12 million budget. With that kind of financial success, production companies Atomic Monster and Blumhouse continued the series, making a "M3GAN 2.0," with the titular robot forced to fight another murderous robot. However, there's a third film in the "M3GAN" cinematic universe that's not as well known: "Soulm8te."

It takes a different look at the technology explored in the first two "M3GAN" movies, with the SOULM8TE robot designed to be a physical manifestation of an AI chatbot for adults. A computer programmer for the tech's parent company, David (David Rysdahl), takes one of the prototypes home to troubleshoot. However, he changes the programming just enough that his SOULM8TE, named Sara (Lily Sullivan), becomes autonomous and starts making her own decisions, wreaking havoc and murdering anyone who threatens her relationship with David.

Despite the lackluster theatrical run for "M3GAN 2.0," which brought in just $39 million worldwide against a reported $25 million budget, "Soulm8te" was planned to hit theaters in early 2026. The initial release date was January 2, later moving to January 9, a time often considered a "dump month" because it historically has low audience attendance. Distributor Universal Pictures was clearly aiming for that early January window that "M3GAN" initially capitalized on.

Instead, "Soulm8te" was pulled just three weeks before it was meant to grace silver screens. Universal Pictures opted to shop the film out, hoping to find the project a new home, though seemingly no one was interested. Its debut officially came during the Gaze International LGBTQIA+ Film Festival Dublin as part of the "Thrill Me!" lineup, with a showing and director and cast Q&A on July 31, 2026. Director Kate Dolan is Irish, which is likely why "Soulm8te" premiered there. The movie then came out through VOD on August 1. 

With a pushed then canceled theatrical release before heading straight to VOD, it's no surprise that "Soulm8te" remains a forgotten part of the "M3GAN" franchise. Combined with poor critic and audience reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, 39% and 53%, respectively, "Soulm8te" may be doomed to become a killer robot movie with much less acclaim than "M3GAN."