Child's Play Reboot On The Way

MGM is finally in a position to bring Chucky back to life, with the horror reboot Child's Play heading into production. Child's Play first hit theaters in 1988, spawning the sequels Child's Play 2, Child's Play 3, Bride Of Chucky, and Seed of Chucky.

The remake had been in development for several years, with a script already written by Don Mancini, who also wrote all the previous movies in the Chucky franchise. The hold-up on the remake was apparently due to rights issues by MGM and Universal. MGM has the rights to the original Child's Play, while Universal retained rights to the sequels. Apparently, a deal has been made between the two studios.

Production is said to begin on the remake sometime later this year, with Brad Dourif returning to voice Chucky. This new project is said to be more of a reboot, with a darker tone and less comedic elements (what's more funny than a Cabbage Patch doll trying to kill a kid, though?). However, none of this has been confirmed at this time.

Movieweb with writer Don Mancini and producer David Kirschner about the 20th Anniversay DVD release of Child's Play. Here's what David Kirschner had to say about the remake, which was initially Universal's idea.

"Actually, it was Universal. In our discussions of Don and my producing partner, we thought we would go on to the next film, but Universal said to us that they would love to be able to remake the first. I think all of us looked at each other and said, 'We just don't want to make a frame-for-frame exactly the same picture.' That's when Don went away and began to work and when Don began to lay out where he was going. I don't want to give away too much. I've known Don for 22 years. We're dear friends. I know his humor, I know his mind. I was so shocked with where he was taking us with expectations of the first film and pulling the rug out from under us. It was exciting and really frightening and exhilarating to hear, as opposed to just shooting a frame-for-frame, but really subverting audiences expectations."

Don Mancini also revealed back then that he wanted to get away from the comedy and make this a straight-up horror movie.

"That's 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."

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