Although 2023’sM3GANdoesn’t seem to have much in common with 2016’sDon’t Breathe,M3GAN 2.0looks likely to pull off a horror franchise trick that the earlier hit series could not achieve. By the timeM3GAN’s ending rolled around, the movie’s titular robot doll was well and truly destroyed. However, you’re able to’t keep a good horror movie villain down, and, sure enough, the original movie’s unexpected success meant thatM3GAN 2.0was soon announced.
DespiteM3GAN’s box office success, it was initially tough to see how the series would justify the title character’s return. After all,M3GANended with the killer doll torn to pieces and, even if her AI were somehow rebooted, it was tough to imagine how she would regain access to the original movie’s heroine, Cady. The franchise’s creators came up with an ingenious answer to this plot problem revealed inM3GAN 2.0’s trailer. This time, M3GAN is the unlikely heroine as the original movie’s cast relies on her to stop another, even more lethal super-powered AI.
M3GAN 2.0 and Don’t Breathe 2 Turned The Original Horror Franchise Villains Into Heroes
M3GAN and Don’t Breathe’s Sequels Redeemed Their Iconic Villains
If this approach sounds familiar, that could be because another killer robot horror franchise pulled off this twist before. 1984’sThe Terminatordepicted Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800 as a ruthless villain, but when the character proved to be one of the most memorable elements of the original blockbuster, he was reprogrammed to be the hero of 1990’s sequelTerminator 2: Judgment Day. However, that is not the only time a franchise tried to pull off this switch with its second outing, and a more recent horror sequel took an approach that was even more similar toM3GAN 2.0’s switch.
2016’s Don’t Breathewas a tense, relentless home invasion horror with a killer twist. Stephen Lang’s blind veteran was the movie’s villain, not its hero, and the clueless criminals breaking into his home were the protagonists. UntilDon’t Breathe’s twist ending, viewers could have been forgiven for thinking that Lang’s antihero was more likable than the criminals breaking into his home. However, the movie’s ending revealed that he had taken a drunk driver hostage in his basement after they accidentally killed his daughter years earlier, and was trying to artificially inseminate her to even the score.
Don’t Breathe 2 Failed To Redeem Its Villain (But M3GAN 2.0 Can Pull This Off)
Don’t Breathe’s Villain Was A Far Nastier Character
BothDon’t BreatheandM3GANwere unexpectedly big sleeper hits upon release, and both movies were praised by critics, who admitted that they went in with low expectations.Don’t Breathe’s surprising moral complexity and absurdly tense set-pieces impressed most reviewers, while it wasM3GAN’s campy horror and gleefully nasty sense of humor that won over critics. Crucially, however, evenM3GAN’s unrated versionwas nowhere near as unapologetically nasty asDon’t Breathe, which became an issue for the series in its 2021 sequel.
M3GANwas a teenage robot with a sassy attitude, whereasDon’t Breathe’s villain was a rapist.
As such,MEGAN 2.0is likely to have a more successful time rehabilitating its former villain than 2021’sDon’t Breathe 2. That sequel fared fine at the box office, but alienated critics by turning Lang’s odious villain into a John Wick-style action hero.M3GANwas a teenage robot with a sassy attitude, whereasDon’t Breathe’s villain was a rapist. As such, viewers understandably winced atDon’t Breathe 2’s depiction of Lang’s character as a tough badass who was fighting to protect a young girl, whereasM3GAN 2.0’s reinvention of M3GAN should have no such problems.
Why Don’t Breathe 2 and M3GAN’s Franchise Trajectories Were So Similar
Both Horror Movies Were Unexpected Sleeper Hits
BothM3GANandDon’t Breathewere much more successful with critics and audiences than their creators anticipated, which made their sequels a challenge.M3GANcost $12 million and earned a staggering $181 million despite being released in January, which is traditionally a graveyard for releases that aren’t expected to fare well in cinemas. Similarly,Don’t Breathecost $9.9 million and earned over $157 million, making a sequel a foregone conclusion. WhileM3GAN 2.0’s storyseems like a surprising new direction for the series, this is mostly due to facing the same issue asDon’t Breathe.
M3GAN’s Terminator Nod Is Deeper Than You Think
While M3GAN’s ending features an obvious nod to The Terminator, the iconic image that the horror movie recreates has a secret, hidden significance.
In both cases, the sequels took things in a totally new direction to capitalize on the unexpected success of their predecessors. SinceDon’t BreatheandM3GANwere such unlikely hits, their sequels could afford to take their respective series in bold new directions. In the case ofDon’t Breathe 2, turning the original movie’s villain into an unexpected antihero required a lot more rehabilitation than the sequel offered. However,M3GAN 2.0can sidestep this mistake thanks to the campier tone ofM3GAN, meaning the sequel won’t fall victim to theDon’t Breathefranchise’s curse when the sequel arrives in May.
