Updated: MGM's Head of Marketing has informed me that there is no truth to this story and that it's 'completely and totally untrue'. No plans to remake Child's Play at this time, etc. Which is fine, I have no reason to disbelieve. However... last month I had the very same kind of email from an MGM rep who told me with a straight face that there were no plans to move forward with a Robocop reboot either... and then a director was hired for the project just a few days later. I'm not saying that's the case here but worth keeping in mind in any event. Ben's original article follows... Hollywood cinema is a fast moving industry centre in which bad ideas are mostly out-numbered by bad half-ideas. Prequels, sequels, reboots, re-imaginings; all of which- if one is especially unfortunate- will be rendered in 3D and will almost certainly be fuel to the fires of your loathing for the multiplex experience that has replaced the exuberant theatrical event of yesteryear. Occasionally, however, a project is devised that is so ludicrous that it pokes its head above the dreary parapet of trenchant derivatives and the latest of these is MGMs proposed remake of Childs Play. Childs Play, for those that dont remember, was a fairly terrible horror franchise, which ultimately became more warmly regarded as the film-makers embraced the inherent camp silliness of Chuckys adventures with Bride of Chucky. Now it seems that with original ideas at premium, the films original makers have forgotten how flat Chucky fell when it took its own horror seriously. Speaking to Movieweb, original writer Don Mancini, who has completed his script for a reboot, said of the new venture:
Thats really our goal with this next movie, bottom-line, was to make it scary again. After having, I think, rather successfully mined the horror-comedy aspects of this concept over the course of Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky, the fans are really telling us that they want it to be scary again. Doing the remake just provides us with a really good opportunity to bring it home, so to speak.
This particular project was first mooted as far back and 2007, but rights to the franchise were subject to dispute between MGM, who made the original film, and Universal, who made all of the other films in the franchise. MGM now have full control on the series and with their intention to reboot former glories (such as Robocop), Child's Play seems an obvious choice. Producing the film will be David Kirschner (Hocus Pocus) and Brad Dourif will return to voice Chucky.