After being pulled from the theatrical schedule in January, the “M3GAN” spinoff “SOULM8TE” will now skip theaters entirely and be released directly on VOD platforms on Aug. 1, Blumhouse Atomic Monster and Universal Home Entertainment announced on Wednesday.
The film, directed and co-written by Kate Dolan, “follows a grieving engineer tasked with testing a ruthless tech giant’s new artificially intelligent android. But when he attempts to program her to be a truly sentient soulmate, she develops needs of her own – unleashing a relentless spree of precision-engineered mayhem.”
“SOULM8TE” was shot back in 2024 but was held after “M3GAN 2.0” underperformed in theaters. The sequel to the 2023 horror hit, which grossed over $180 million worldwide, switched genres to action comedy and grossed just $39 million.
Now, “SOULM8TE” is going the VOD route before it eventually lands on streaming services, as Universal and Blumhouse Atomic Monster look to recoup through digital retail rentals.
The film stars Lily Sullivan (“Evil Dead Rise”), David Rysdahl (“Alien: Earth”), Claudia Doumit (“The Boys”), and Arty Froushan (“Daredevil: Born Again”).
Producer and Blumhouse Atomic Monster CEO, Jason Blum said, “Kate Dolan has expertly blended tech paranoia with erotic thriller in ‘SOULM8TE,’ which is just as fun as that sounds, but also has more on its mind than you might think.”
“When Blumhouse Atomic Monster first approached me about an erotic thriller set in the M3GAN-verse, I thought, are you insane? But something drew me in. We exist in a bizarre time where companies sell us ‘connection’ through apps, algorithms, and AI. Yet those are the same forces pulling us apart. The lonelier we get, the more dependent we become on the tools doing the pulling,” Dolan said in a statement. “SOULM8TE is a movie about that vicious cycle. It is a satirical, unhinged movie that explores desire, obsession, autonomy and control. It’s a movie that knows how ridiculous it is, and I’d argue it’s best watched the way you’d watch Basic Instinct or Showgirls now, with friends, a drink in hand, and zero shame about shouting at the screen.”
Watch the trailer below.