IT'S HAPPENING

Meme’d to Death Movie ‘Ma’ to Live Again With New Sequel

Octavia Spencer will return to play her iconic role.

Ma fans, today is your lucky day.

Blumhouse has officially announced a sequel to the 2019 revenge thriller, which follows a lonely middle-aged woman nicknamed “Ma” (Octavia Spencer), who befriends a group of teenagers, allowing them to use her house for parties on a few conditions: Someone must stay sober, no swearing, and whatever you do, don’t go upstairs.

What starts as harmless fun quickly spirals into a horrifying nightmare as the group realizes their host may not be as friendly as she appears.

Though critics initially panned Ma—Vulture called it “muddled” and the New York Times described it as “sloppy”—the film was practically an instant hit with the internet, largely thanks to its memeability.

At one point, the Ma memes were so popular that Spencer even held a competition to find the best ones.

“You memers have inspired me. Let’s have a contest to find the BEST #Ma Meme out there,” Spencer wrote on her Instagram back in 2020.

Given its internet popularity, fans immediately demanded that Blumhouse give Ma a sequel. However, for almost six years, the production company had been mainly silent on the issue. But now, after patiently waiting for so long, the production company dropped the news that Ma 2 is officially happening.

“Ma has proven to be a social phenomenon since its release in 2019, with fans eagerly embracing the film and Octavia’s iconic performance as Ma,” Jason Blum, founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions, said in a press release. “Ma likes to say, ‘Don’t make me drink alone,’ so we’re thrilled Octavia will join us again for a second round.”

The company also shared the good news across their social media platforms, uploading a still of Ma eavesdropping on a group of kids, with the caption “us” and “everyone in our comments for the last six years demanding a sequel.”

Naturally, people are euphoric.

It doesn’t matter that (spoiler alert!) Ma supposedly died in a house fire at the end of the first film. Who cares about continuity? Not Ma fans. All they want is more of the unhinged brilliance from the first film.

“MA 2 is finally happening with icon Octavia Spencer returning!! Even though there’s no correlation I feel like this is a win for Pride Month!! :) lol,” one person wrote on X.

“Ma 2 = ma² = MAMA,” another person posted.

There were lots of ideas about possible titles:

Although the rest of the details about the sequel are currently under wraps, we can at least be sure on one thing: the Ma meme renaissance is upon us.

Clare DonaldsonEditorial Intern

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