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.
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.
Are you tired of paying for streaming services you never watch just to get a phone plan feature you actually want? T-Mobile has good news for you! The carrier is rolling out new plans, called T-Mix, in early November to replace its old Experience lineup with a build-your-own perks system called Picks.
The benefits you choose vary from streaming and gaming to food delivery, AI, satellite service, and phone discounts. But if you are satisfied with your existing plan, you can keep it.
Merely days after the iPhone Duo hit the shelves, images of broken screens on the phone started popping up across social media. Until now, it’s been unclear what’s causing the line of defective pixels that appears vertically along the crease, as well as horizontally, on the phone’s inner display.
Apple has finally acknowledged the issue, which has shown up on iPhone Duo units owned by customers as well as demo units in stores. In a statement shared with Bloomberg, Apple says that not all iPhone Duo units are affected and that those that are tend to show the display fault early on. The company added that users who experience problems with their iPhone Duo display should contact AppleCare for a replacement.
Not long ago, Apple treated independent repair like an act of outright hostility. The Cupertino giant locked down parts with serial-number pairing, while repair tools remained firmly out of reach of anyone outside its authorized repair network. More importantly, the company waged a legal and lobbying battle against right-to-repair legislation.
I've covered enough of these fights over the years to know what a shift looks like. That's why what happened in October 2026 genuinely caught me off guard. The day the iPhone Duo went on sale, what may be the most mechanically complex iPhone to date, Apple pulled off a surprising about-face. It published teardown-style repair manuals for a handful of major components.