Written by Akela Cooper and co-producer James Wan, M3gan tells the story of Gemma (Allison Williams), a roboticist whose work and personal life collide when her cousin Cady (Violet McGraw) is suddenly orphaned after a car accident. While Gemma isn’t particularly keen on raising a child of her own, she sees in Cady an opportunity to try out M3gan (voiced by Jenna Davis), an advanced android she and her fellow engineers built to be the ultimate friend and companion. to be for lonely children.

Though M3gan becomes that for Cady in the new trailer, it doesn’t take long for the robot’s pleasantries to be ignored by her main directive to protect her human payload and she’s starting to act more like one of those mechanical dogs Boston Dynamics swears it will never arm. M3ganIt’s certainly mastered the whole scary popping thing, and it looks like the movie’s sense of humor will contrast well with the sheer amount of blood it’ll contain. But we won’t know how m3gan piles up against the will of real legends like Annabelle until the film hits theaters on January 6 next year. It was originally scheduled for release on the 13th, but Deadline reports that it has been pushed back a week.

Update, October 19, 7:30 PM ET: Updated to note a new release date.