Lily Sullivan, who appeared in last year’s Evil Dead Rise, has been cast in SOULM8TE, the forthcoming M3GAN spinoff from filmmaker Kate Dolan (You Are Not My Mother). The movie, which hails from Blumhouse and James Wan’s Atomic Monster, will center on an AI-powered android designed to help a man cope with the loss of his recently-deceased wife. Of course, as you can probably imagine, he asks a little too much of the AI, and the android (Sullivan) turns into a twisted reflection of her original purpose.
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According to Deadline, who originally reported the story, the movie is “a great deal more risqué” then M3GAN, inspired by the legacy of ’90s domestic thrillers like Sleeping With the Enemy and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. Dolan (You Are Not My Mother) is set to helm the film. The director rewrote an original draft by Rafael Jordan (Salvage Marines) from a story by Atomic Monster’s James Wan, Ingrid Bisu, and Jordan.
“Fundamentally, I view this film as an exploration of relationships and loneliness,” Dolan shared when the project was announced. “Despite technological advances, there are enduring human truths we cannot escape, and I am looking forward to delving into those depths.”
Wan and Jason Blum will produce SOULM8TE, with Michael Clear and Judson Scott of Wan’s Atomic Monster executive producing the film. Ingrid Bisu serves as an executive producer, with Alayna Glasthal overseeing the project for Atomic Monster.
M3GAN was one of the biggest horror hits of last year, earning over $181 million at the global box office from a reported budget of $12 million. It’s the latest in a string of hits from Blumhouse, who have a reputation for making cheap movies (often horror or sci-fi) that connect with audiences to bring home big bounties. They’re currently working on developing a Spawn movie, which will take Todd McFarlane’s long-running Image Comics antihero firmly out of the superhero territory and into horror land on the big screen.
Here’s the film’s official logline: “In SOULM8TE, 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.”
There’s no official release date in place for SOULM8TE yet, although M3GAN 2.0 is due in theaters in June.
