Following the poor box office performance of 2025’s horror sequel M3GAN 2.0, Blumhouse Atomic Monster’s spin-off film SOULM8TE will now head straight to home video starting 1 August 2026.
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, this news comes after the film was pulled from Universal’s release calendar in late 2025, and although the project hasn’t been axed completely, it will now launch on a significantly smaller scale by streaming exclusively on digital platforms such as Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, and Google TV.
Hailing from director and co-writer Kate Dolan, the film also received its first trailer, which stars Lily Sullivan (Evil Dead Rise) as an AI-powered robot companion purchased by a grieving man (David Rysdahl). After tinkering with its code, this causes the robot to develop self-awareness, spiralling the pair’s relationship into dangerous territory. The film also stars Claudia Doumit, Oliver Cooper, Steve Chusak, Emma Ramos, and Ossian Perret.
Based on its first trailer alone, SOULM8TE is set to see a rather notable departure in tone compared to the M3GAN franchise. While the latter combined campy action with horror elements, this upcoming erotic thriller looks to tap into mature themes alongside its usual gory affair while still being a statement piece on the dangers of artificial intelligence. The film’s plot also seems to mirror that of the recently released horror film Obsession, albeit through a sci-fi lens, and considering how successful the film was, SOULM8TE certainly has huge shoes to fill if it wants to even come close.
The film’s move to VOD comes after M3GAN 2.0 bombed at the box office last year, only managing to garner US$$39.1 million globally. In comparison, the 2023 original horror film was a sleeper hit, amassing an impressive US$181.8 million haul on a humble US$12 million budget. Still, it would be interesting to see how SOULM8TE performs, especially considering how different its themes are compared to those of its main horror franchise, when it launches on streaming platforms on 1 August 2026.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
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