Competition is good for business, even when it comes to competing movies about evil dolls. Between seven horror movies (see our ranking of all 7 Chucky films) and two seasons of television, Chucky might be the OG MVP of serial murders, but there is a new killer doll on the block, and she’s looking to dethrone the Good Guy with a penchant for high body counts. Between a halftime performance, viral memes, and a social media feud between the two murdering child playthings, a successful box office weekend seems to be on the horizon for M3GAN.
The marketing for the joint Blumhouse and Atomic Monster production has been genius. Since the trailer dropped for M3GAN, she’s been a social media hit. So much so that Universal reportedly discussed M3GAN 2 before the first movie even hit theaters. As marketing went into full swing ahead of this weekend’s film release, eight dancers dressed as the murderous AI with impeccable fashion sense took the field during a Rams vs. Chargers game to perform a skin-crawling-inducing halftime show syncretized performance. You can check out the video below.
Associated Press writer Greg Beacham shared his view of the performance from a public setting with his Twitter followers, and somehow without the music, the performance is even creepier. Honestly, this whole thing is pure nightmare fuel.
So 8 women dressed as M3GAN from the upcoming movie did a dance routine during halftime of the Rams-Chargers game. Please enjoy: pic.twitter.com/5Rf5c6Kc96January 1, 2023
The halftime performance wasn’t the first viral moment M3GAN has experienced. A hilarious back-and-forth between the official Chucky and M3GAN Twitter accounts took place last October during the former’s second season of his hit USA/SYFY series. The two-foot red-headed killer shared the M3GAN movie trailer with a tongue-in-cheek response that received nearly half a million likes and over 67 thousand retweets. The wisecracking killer wrote:
Chucky’s Tweet called for a response from the new girl on the scene. The M3GAN account’s reaction was priceless. She wrote:
U know u that doll when u cause all this conversation.
It should be noted that Universal Pictures is the major studio behind the scenes on both Chucky the series and M3GAN. This faux feud has likely only been part of a much larger marketing strategy–the same strategy behind the football halftime performance.
Along with the efforts being made by the marketing team, After the trailer dropped, there was a massive uptick of TikTok users performing the now-iconic choreography seen in the trailer. The marketing team also took a page out of last year’s horror hit Smile’s viral campaign playbook. For the movie’s New York premiere, there was an army of M3GANs practicing their routine and taking pictures with fans. They strategically placed themselves in the background for all of the film’s lead, Allison Williams, interviews. The army of M3GANs even had time to take in the sites as they danced at the Empire State Building.
Sorry Chuck, but it appears M3GAN is positioning herself to be the star doll for the internet age. Luckily, this horror fan doesn’t need to pick sides because there is enough room in his twisted black heart for two child-play icons of horror cinema.
Based on social media response, the marketing campaign for M3GAN has been quite successful, but the box office numbers for the open weekend are still coming in. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the full rundown. Until then, horror fans might be interested in our schedule of upcoming horror movies or our 2023 new movie releases to plan their next movie-going experience.