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Earlier this year, MGM confirmed that the cult horror movie, Child’s Play, would get a reboot. The remake is scheduled to be released in the middle of 2019. Thus far, Parks and Recreation’s Aubrey Plaza has signed on to be part of the movie; while Lars Klevberg has been tapped to direct.
While there is some amount of anticipation surrounding the film, not everybody is thrilled about the remake. The concern lies with the fact that major players in the franchise including Don Mancini, Child’s Play creator, and Brad Dourif, Chucky’s voice actor, would not have any part of the production. Now, it seems like even Mancini has some gripe over MGM’s decision to remake his horror masterpiece.
During a recent interview with Post Mortem podcast, Mancini explained that MGM has the rights to the first Child’s Play movie. Before the start of the film’s production, Mancini was asked by the production company if he wanted to be a part of the project. Mancini explained that they already developed Chucky, the main star of Child’s Play, into a beast of a franchise. Going back and remaking Child’s Play seemed unnecessary:
“MGM retained the rights to the first movie, so they’re rebooting that. They asked David Kirschner and I if we wanted to be executive producers. We said no thank you because we have our ongoing thriving business with Chucky. Obviously, my feelings were hurt. Ya know, I had just done two movies… forgive me if I sound defensive, (they) were both at 83 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Even though they didn’t get theatrical releases, they were well regarded. And I did create the character and nurture the franchise for three f*cking decades.”
For anyone listening to the podcast, it was hard not to notice how emotional Mancini was when it comes to MGM remaking Child’s Play. Mancini lamented over the fact that MGM didn’t really want their creative input, they just wanted approval:
“MGM retained the rights to the first movie, so they’re rebooting that. They asked David Kirschner and I if we wanted to be executive producers. We said no thank you because we have our ongoing thriving business with Chucky. Obviously, my feelings were hurt. Ya know, I had just done two movies… forgive me if I sound defensive, (they) were both at 83 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Even though they didn’t get theatrical releases, they were well regarded. And I did create the character and nurture the franchise for three f*cking decades.”
Like Manici, fans of Child’s Play are unpleased about MGM’s decision to create a reboot of the cult movie. In the aftermath of the backlash, Klevberg, the new movie’s director, has since chimed in on the issue. He reveals that he is a big fan of Mancini. He thanks him for giving the world such a memorable character:
“Everyone is a huge fan of Don Mancini. [If] he was making this movie with us it would be really amazing, but we understand he has his reasons. We are extremely grateful to him and will always be. He’s someone I look up to.”
Child’s Play is scheduled to be released on June 21, 2019.
