Meta's 'Movie Mate' AI Chatbot Sparks Controversy in Theatrical Experience

Meta's 'M3GAN' chatbot is a nightmare for moviegoers

Going to the movies these day is a crapshoot. People might scroll on their phones or record the screen the whole time. Audiences may lose their damn minds over "chicken jockey." And thanks to a new announcement from Meta and Blumhouse, the production company behind horror films like M3GAN and The Woman in the Yard, the moviegoing experience might be about to get a whole lot worse. On April 9, Blumhouse revealed it would be re-releasing three of its biggest hits -- Annabelle, Ma, and M3GAN -- for its Halfway to Halloween festival, part of the company's 15-year anniversary celebration. For the April 30 M3GAN re-release, Blumhouse teamed up with Meta for the first use of Meta's Movie Mate, a chatbot audiences can activate by messaging the M3GAN Instagram account. In turn, the chatbot will give audiences real-time trivia, behind-the-scenes facts, and exclusive content. The whole thing is intended to promote M3GAN 2.0 and elevate the so-called "second-screen experience," but really, it feels more like a free pass for people to use their phones in the movie theater. Even without the irony of creating an AI chatbot tied to a movie about a killer AI doll, Movie Mate is a horrendous ploy that will ruin the theatrical experience, which is all about communally absorbing a movie to its fullest extent. And I don't care if the Movie Mate experience is limited to specific screenings -- its existence encourages people who use it to believe this behavior is okay in other screenings. No one deserves to have a movie be ruined by the bright phone light of their seatmate looking up who's in the film. That's what the credits (and frantic post-movie googling) are for! Otherwise, the second-screen experience should just stay where it belongs: at home.

M3GAN is your phone's most unsettling chatbot yet

Blumhouse and Meta are giving you the chance to break every movie theater's no-texting policy, as they're launching a new AI chatbot experience called Movie Mate during a new screening of M3GAN on April 30, ahead of the release of its sequel, M3GAN 2.0. And who better to theme the chatbot after the leading killer doll? Variety reported on the announcement of Movie Mate Wednesday, saying Meta is launching the chatbot program alongside the horror film studio to "augment and uplevel the 'second screen' viewing experience" by giving fans a second screen to interact with M3GAN and her namesake film on a deeper level than they have before. Fans who go see M3GAN in theaters at the end of this month will get to talk to the evil doll by DM'ing the movie's official Instagram account (@M3GAN), and she'll give access to exclusive content, trivia, and behind-the-scenes information as the movie is playing. It's like one of those pop-up editions of Disney Channel movies in the 2000s, except you'll see something to that effect on your phone instead on the silver screen. With M3GAN, it's all the more exciting and unsettling. Recommended Videos Jason Blum, founder and CEO of Blumhouse, said its collaboration with Instagram's parent company to bring M3GAN to life in chatbot form via Movie Mate is part of the horror film studio's Halfway to Halloween campaign, which it is expanding throughout the U.S. after a limited launch last year with return screenings of Ma and Annabelle. The campaign is also part of its 15th anniversary. "The question we always ask ourselves is why can't every day be Halloween? So Halfway to Halloween brings us one step closer, and I couldn't be happier that this year we are going nationwide," Blum said in a statement. "In that same spirit of trying new things, we're excited to give M3GAN fans an all-new experience in theaters from the team from Meta." If you're a parent of young teens who may want to interact with the M3GAN chatbot during the movie, which is PG-13, remind them that the character is just a chatbot, not the real thing, and it's a publicity stunt for the sequel. Character.AI took care of that by inserting a disclaimer in their App Store listing that AI characters are not real before they updated the app with a feature allowing young users to share their weekly activity stats with their parents two weeks ago. M3GAN 2.0 hits theaters June 27.

Zuckerberg Encourages Theatergoers to Use Their Phones While Movie Is Playing

Uncontent with merely turning Facebook and Instagram into right-wing hellscapes of AI slop, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is now actively rallying theatergoers to pull out their glowingly annoying smartphones when they're at the movies. As Variety reports, Meta is teaming up with the horror film studio Blumhouse to bring the "second screen" experience to its single-night re-release of "M3GAN" on April 30. Dubbed "Halfway to Halloween," the production company's limited engagement will also include "Annabelle" and "Ma," two of its other big hits -- but it's clear that "M3GAN," with its hotly anticipated upcoming sequel, is the star of the show. Using chatbot technology that Meta refers to as "Movie Mate" -- a new spin, perhaps, on Zuckerberg's cringey push to get his subordinates to refer to each other as "Meta Mates" back when he was all-in on virtual reality -- fans will be able to talk to an AI version of the iconic robot. There is, however, a catch. "Movie Mate is only available to moviegoers who are in a theater," the studio explained in a statement provided to Variety, "and works by DM'ing the Instagram account @M3GAN account to start the experience." When we asked Meta how this location-specific gambit works, a company spokesperson told Futurism that a "code will be displayed on the movie screen prior to the trailers" to verify that users are in the theater, and they would subsequently be provided with instructions on how to initiate the DM convo. Though that's better than using some sort of creepy geofencing, it also sounds like it requires a non-minimal amount of effort -- which equals, of course, more light pollution inside dark theaters packed with patrons for the single-night screenings. Beyond the "M3GAN" chatbot, the promotion will also include more traditional marketing incentives like "sneak peeks, exclusive recorded messages from directors and talent from the films, and surprise special appearances in select markets," Blumhouse said in its statement. Amid this desperate attempt to make Meta relevant post-Metaverse, many folks are not thrilled at the thought of studios intentionally and actively encouraging people to ruin the movie theater experience. "I feel like M3GAN would actually kill moviegoers who used [Movie Mate]," one Bluesky user quipped. "It's feeling like we've lost the fight on this one," Bloody Disgusting editor-in-chief John Squires tweeted, "and the next generation of the theater-going experience will be tailored to the youth and the way they consume movies, which is very different than the way most of us do." "Hollywood will likely lean in," he continued. "And maybe they have to." In response to the news, the Alamo Drafthouse theater chain confirmed to Variety that it won't be participating in the monstrous "Movie Mate" campaign -- though, to be fair, that decision could be an attempt to gain back goodwill from pro-labor cinephiles who boycotted during a recently-ended strike protesting layoffs. Though Meta is far from the first company to attempt this kind of ghoulish "second screen marketing," bringing it to theaters -- and to a single-night engagement in particular -- is indeed horrific.

New Facebook Tech Will Encourage People To Use Their Phones In Movie Theaters

Blumhouse is teaming up with Facebook parent company Meta to "augment and uplevel" the movie going experience. How? By encouraging people to interact with an AI chatbot while in a theater watching a movie on the big screen. Does this sound like a good idea? Nope! But that hasn't stopped Hollywood or big tech before. On April 9, as reported by Variety, Meta is launching its new "Movie Mate" technology during a special April 30 screening of Megan -- the original film, not its forthcoming sequel -- as part of horror movie studio Blumhouse's "Halfway to Halloween Film Festival." The new tech will let moviegoers use their mobile phones as a "second screen" while watching Megan in a theater. The idea is that people in the theater will be able to use their phone to chat with a Megan-themed AI chatbot, answer trivia questions, and read behind-the-scenes tidbits. I don't care how much of a boomer this makes me: don't use your phone in a movie theater. If you are worried about an emergency, leave it on buzz and exit the theater before checking your device. Otherwise, mute that shit and enjoy two hours in a dark room separated from the nightmare that is the internet in 2025. "The question we always ask ourselves is why can't every day be Halloween? So Halfway to Halloween brings us one step closer, and I couldn't be happier that this year we are going nationwide," said Jason Blum, founder and CEO of Blumhouse, in a statement. "In that same spirit of trying new things, we're excited to give Megan fans an all-new experience in theaters from the team at Meta." I do find it very funny that Meta and Blumhouse are pitching this tech as "new" despite second screen experiences being a thing that companies tried over a decade ago. Remember Xbox SmartGlass? That was an app you'd open on your tablet or phone and then use while playing games or watching movies on your Xbox One. It had some uses, but wasn't really a thing anybody cared about. So Xbox killed it and moved on. Yet, here's Meta bringing the concept back, while making it more annoying than before by cramming in AI and encouraging people to use their phones while in a movie theater. I can only hope that, like most new ideas big tech has these days, this Movie Mate thing quietly fails and is never mentioned again. If not, then going to the movies is going to get a lot worse, and that would make me really sad. Oh and speaking of Megan, the sequel looks bonkers. I hope when I watch it in a movie theater later this year I don't have to deal with 20 random people on their phones the whole time.

M3GAN is getting a unique rerelease, but people are divided over what it means for theaters

As part of Blumhouse's 15th anniversary celebrations, the studio is bringing M3GAN back to screens just months before its sequel hits screens. However, the screenings will feature special tech that encourages audiences to use their smartphones. To shake things up, M3GAN's upcoming limited theatrical run will use new technology by Meta to give audiences the chance to communicate with the AI doll via a chatbot. As reported by Variety, the technology is called Movie Mate and allows viewers to use their Instagram accounts to access exclusive content, trivia, and behind-the-scenes info in real-time while the film is playing on screen. To start the experience, attendees will DM the official @M3GAN Instagram account, and the chats will start rolling in. But it's not just messages as the experience will also include "exclusive recorded messages from directors and talent from the films, and surprise special appearances in select markets," as per the press release. However, fans are divided over the use of smartphones in cinemas. "I don't really want people to be looking at their brighter-than-the-sun screens in a dark room," said one Twitter user, and another echoed, "If this is for all showings, I won't be seeing this in theaters." But some fans seem to be on board, as one replied, "If they are going to do this with movies that had previously been released, this might be a fun way to get people there." The screening is part of Blumhouse's Halfway to Halloween celebration. The studio will bring a selection of their best horror movies back to cinemas for one night only, with the special M3GAN screening taking place on April 30. Tickets are also on sale for The Conjuring spin-off Annabelle, which will show on May 7, and MA on May 14. The M3GAN experience will take place just months before its sequel, M3GAN 2.0, is due to hit screens. Written and directed by Gerard Johnstone, the sequel is set years after the original, where M3GAN was destroyed for being evil. However, with an even stronger killer robot looking to harm robot designer Gemma and her niece Cady, the team has no choice but to put M3GAN back together and make her faster, stronger, and more lethal in order to defeat the new enemy. For now, the Halfway to Halloween screenings are only available in the US.