‘M3GAN’ Creators Sued Over Alleged Copycat Horror Film

The team behind the hit killer-doll movie M3GAN is facing a lawsuit — not for the doll’s on-screen mayhem, but for allegedly borrowing the idea from another filmmaker.

A man named Carl Watts, a former airline pilot and amateur filmmaker, has sued Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Pictures, director James Wan, and screenwriter Akela Cooper, claiming their movie copies key elements from his 2012 film Paranormal Adoption.

According to Watts, both movies center on a young girl who is orphaned early in life and forms a deep bond with a doll. In both stories, the doll becomes violent toward anyone who threatens that relationship. Watts argues the similarities don’t stop there — he also points out that both films end in a way that clearly leaves room for sequels and more bloodshed.

Watts says the creators of M3GAN may have had access to his work years ago. He claims he submitted his script to a production company that was later absorbed by Lionsgate. He also alleges that a Lionsgate employee, Joshua Cozine, communicated with him about the project and later attended the University of Southern California’s film program at the same time as Cooper. Watts argues this overlap creates a “reasonable possibility” that his script or film was seen.

He even points to past comments by Wan about being a longtime fan of creepy dolls as circumstantial evidence that the filmmaker may have come across Paranormal Adoption.

The lawsuit accuses all defendants of copyright infringement and seeks at least $5 million in damages.

M3GAN was a surprise box-office smash when it debuted in 2023, quickly becoming a pop-culture phenomenon. Its success led to the sequel M3GAN 2.0 and an upcoming spin-off titled SOULM8TE.

So far, the defendants have not publicly responded to the lawsuit. Whether this legal battle ends quietly or turns into a full-blown courtroom horror story remains to be seen.