Universal Pictures sent Soulm8te, the third entry in the M3GAN franchise, straight to digital platforms on August 1, bypassing a theatrical release entirely in the U.S. and several other territories. The film is now available for home viewing rather than playing in cinemas.

That decision followed a bumpy journey to screens. The spin-off was originally slated for a theatrical run on January 2, 2026 — a date later shifted to January 9. In December 2025, Universal removed Soulm8te from its release schedule and shopped it to other distributors, as Variety reported at the time. The studio ultimately opted for a direct-to-digital drop after M3GAN 2.0 underperformed at the box office, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The trailer landed alongside the digital release details on July 8, as Variety noted, giving audiences a first proper look at the film.

Soulm8te centres on David, played by David Rysdahl, a man who buys an AI companion named Sara — portrayed by Lily Sullivan — to cope with the death of his wife. The cast also includes Arty Froushan as David's incoming boss Ben, Elijah Cook as his former boss Terrence, and Claudia Doumit as coworker Aubrey, per Variety. Mara Huf also appears in the film, according to RogerEbert.com.

Behind the camera is Kate Dolan, whose 2021 debut feature You Are Not My Mother earned festival attention. Soulm8te was shot in Ireland while standing in for an unspecified American city. The film has been described as "Fatal Attraction meets I, Robot" — a tagline that surfaced in trade coverage last spring. Producer James Wan called it "a thrilling and seductive addition to the M3GAN universe" when the project was first announced in 2024, as Variety reported.

Reviews have begun landing. The Hollywood Reporter noted the cast is appealing and that the plot overlaps with the M3GAN storyline. RogerEbert.com ran a review headlined "Soulm8te review: M3GAN spinoff runs out of batteries quick." The A.V. Club described the film as a straight-to-VOD AI thriller. For context, "VOD" — video on demand — simply means the film is rented or purchased through digital storefronts rather than projected in a cinema.

For a franchise that began with a surprise theatrical hit in 2023's M3GAN, a direct-to-digital third entry marks a notable shift in strategy. Universal's choice to skip cinemas on this one reflects the commercial reality after M3GAN 2.0 struggled — a reminder that every film reaching a screen, or in this case a streaming queue, is the end of a chain of distribution decisions made in the cold light of box-office returns.