Introducing Endless Mode: A New Games & Anime Site from Paste
Before there was M3GAN, there was Ma. The killer doll may be a femininomenon right now, but before she danced her way onto the scene, Octavia Spencer’s Ma was Blumhouse’s Meme Queen in chief. (Spencer has seen and loves all those edited movie posters by the way, so keep ’em coming.) M3GAN may have a new nemesis in her upcoming sequel, but she’s about to have a bigger, Ma-er rival whenever Blumhouse’s followup to the 2019 thriller premieres.
The horror studio announced the sequel this week at their Business of Fear symposium, per Deadline. Directed by The Help‘s Tate Taylor, the original Ma—now perhaps Ma 1—became a phenomenon due in part to its succinct title and tonally bizarre trailer. While the massive hype around the film always seemed somewhat distinct from the film itself, the plot follows Spencer as a lonely woman (the titular Ma, of course) who turns on a group of teens after inviting them to party in her basement. It did go on to earn $60 million on its $5 million budget, so this seems like a no-brainer for the sequel-happy studio.
We don’t yet know what sort of antics Ma will get up to in her second outing, but Blumhouse founder Jason Blum had this to say about the sequel: “Ma has proven to be a social phenomenon since its release in 2019, with fans eagerly embracing the film and Octavia’s iconic performance as Ma. Ma likes to say ‘don’t make me drink alone,’ so we’re thrilled Octavia will join us again for a second round.” Now, the team just has to conquer the hard part: figuring out a title that even partly lives up to the first.
