Director Kate Dolan says she has made peace with losing a theatrical release for “Soulm8te,” the erotic-thriller spinoff of the “M3GAN” franchise that spent months in limbo before Universal and Blumhouse Atomic Monster sent it straight to video-on-demand on August 1. Dolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with Rafael Jordan from a story credited to James Wan and Ingrid Bisu, told The Hollywood Reporter she feels genuine relief that audiences finally get to see the film at all, regardless of the venue.
The movie follows a grieving engineer who purchases an advanced android companion after his wife’s death, only to watch the machine develop obsessive desires of its own. Shot in 2024, “Soulm8te” was originally slated for a January theatrical run, but Universal shelved those plans after “M3GAN 2.0” stumbled at the box office, pulling in just $39 million against the original film’s worldwide haul of more than $180 million. The studio then spent months quietly shopping the finished film to other distributors and streamers before deciding to handle the release itself.
Dolan said she and her collaborators set out to make a genuine erotic thriller rather than a straightforward horror sequel, pointing to Wan and Bisu’s affection for the genre’s 1980s and ’90s heyday as the project’s creative starting point. She pushed back against suggestions that the film leans too heavily on its connection to “M3GAN,” noting that nothing tying the story to that franchise was trimmed during the delays; the movie was always designed to function as its own standalone tale rather than a direct extension of the earlier films.
The director also addressed comparisons to “Obsession,” another recent horror hit drawing crowds this year, saying she welcomes any attention that pulls mainstream viewers deeper into the genre. She described the current moment as a strong one for original horror storytelling, adding that renewed interest in one film tends to benefit others in the space.
“Soulm8te” stars Lily Sullivan, David Rysdahl, Claudia Doumit and Camille Rutherford, and runs one hour and 39 minutes. Early reviews have been more favorable than the film’s rocky release history might have suggested, with critics praising its willingness to commit fully to genre conventions rather than imitate its predecessor. The film is available for rental or purchase on premium platforms including Prime Video, Apple TV and Fandango at Home.
