Gerard Johnstone, Director of the M3GAN Movies, Signs with UTA
Gerard Johnstone, who directed the two M3GAN movies, has signed with UTA. The New Zealand filmmaker made his directorial debut with the 2014 horror comedy Housebound but made waves with the the M3GAN movies, which were produced by Blumhouse, the horror-facing production banner run by Jason Blum. He was previously with CAA. The first M3GAN,…
Gerard Johnstone, who directed the two M3GAN movies, has signed with UTA.
The New Zealand filmmaker made his directorial debut with the 2014 horror comedy Housebound but made waves with the the M3GAN movies, which were produced by Blumhouse, the horror-facing production banner run by Jason Blum.
He was previously with CAA.
The first M3GAN, released by Universal in January 2023, starred Violet McGraw and Allison Williams and introduced audiences to a sassy AI-powered killer doll. It became an unexpected hit, as well as one of the first post-COVID theatrical hits, grossing over $180 million worldwide and earning a 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
M3GAN 2.0, which took a sci-fi action turn, sadly only grossed $39.0 million when released in theaters in June 2025, and even made Blum publicly address the failure. The movie, however, has performed well on streaming. It was the number one movie on Universal’s Peacock for a while and is now on Netflix, where it has been in the top spot and continues to be in the top 10.
Up next, Johnstone is attached to direct the live-action feature version of Monster High, based on Mattel’s doll line, and is being made by Universal Pictures, Akiva Goldsman’s Weed Road and Mattel Films.
The concept involves a fictional high school attended by the teenage children of famous monsters and has expanded into various forms of media. Johnstone signed on to direct the project weeks before the opening of M3GAN 2.0.
Johnstone continues to be repped by Key Creatives and Davis Law Group.
