Allison Williams Will Build 'M3GAN' In Blumhouse's New Thriller With An Artificially Intelligent Doll

Artificial intelligence is one of the latest crazes in horror, and Blumhouse is activating a new tech thriller at Universal that will turn state-of-the art technology into a deadly threat.

M3GAN will star Allison Williams (Get Out, Girls) as a brilliant roboticist at a toy company who is developing the titular life-like doll with artificial intelligence that can be programmed to be "a kid's greatest companion and a parent's greatest ally." But when she decides to activate M3GAN to help out when she unexpectedly gains custody of her niece, the doll may not end up being as helpful she hoped. In fact, it's a mistake that will have unimaginable consequences.

Blumhouse sent out a press release announcing M3GAN, which will be directed by Gerard Johnstone (Housebound) and written by Akela Cooper (Malignant, The Nun 2). Horror mastermind James Wan will produce through his Atomic Monster productions banner, and the company's Michael Clear will serve as executive producer while Judson Scott shepherds the project for them. Jason Blum is also producing along with Ryan Turek through Blumhouse, and Allison Williams is executive producing as well.

If this story sounds familiar at all, that's because it's not remarkably dissimilar from the Child's Play remake that was released last year. In the new version of the classic horror staple, there's a Buddi doll that can connect to an owner's electronics system and adapt to their routines to help them in their day-to-day lives. But a disgruntled, fired employee reprograms one of the dolls and turns off all of its safety protocols, turning it into a little deadly robot monster. So we're wondering how M3GAN will differentiate itself from that story. Maybe they're just counting on the fact that not a lot of people saw the Child's Play remake.

At the end of the day, it probably doesn't matter too much that the story shares these similarities with the Child's Play remake. There have been plenty of movies about robots coming to life and killing humans. The horror genre is especially full of formulaic stories and repetitive tropes. It's the execution that matters, and hopefully with Blumhouse and James Wan involved, this will be something worth seeking out whenever it arrives in theaters, perhaps in time for Halloween next year. After all, Allison Williams has had two outstanding thrillers in a row with Get Out and The Perfection, so she seems to have good sense for what will creep us out.

In the meantime, don't forget about the Welcome to Blumhouse collection of new horror movies coming to Amazon Prime this month. Find out more about those over here.