Originally published December 15, 2018. Updated November 21, 2019.
Earlier this year, Child’s Play creator Don Mancini revealed his plans to bring Chucky to the small screen for a TV series continuation of the cult horror franchise, only for MGM to subsequently announce its own rival project with a reboot of the original 1988 film.
Mancini – who has written all seven Child’s Play films as well as directing the last three instalments – will have no involvement with the new film, and during an interview on the Post Mortem podcast, he has revealed his thoughts on the situation – and it seems he’s not very happy at all.
“MGM retained the rights to the first movie, so they’re rebooting that,” said Mancini. “They asked [producer] 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% 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 fucking decades.”
“So when someone says, ‘Oh yeah, we would love to have your name on the film’… it was hard not to feel like I was being patronized,” he continued. “They just wanted our approval. Which I strenuously denied them. I hesitate to say too much about it because I don’t want to sound like I’m belly-aching too much. But the producers of that movie are the producers of It. How would they feel if there was some legal loophole that allowed David Kirschner and I to swoop in and make our own It movie with our own version of Pennywise and say, ‘Hey guys, we would love to put your names on it.’ I imagine they wouldn’t like it. That’s how I feel. The people who are making that movie, they don’t know how that’s going to affect my livelihood. It’s not just a paycheck. It’s very personal. MGM’s screwing with that… potentially.”
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It’s easy to sympathise with Mancini here, particularly as he still has his own plans for Chucky moving forward. However, by the same token, if the remake hits big it may well reignite mainstream interest in the franchise, which could prove beneficial when it comes to his planned TV series.
What are your thoughts on the situation? Are you looking forward to the remake? Let us know in the comments below…
Child’s Play follows a mother who gives her son a toy doll for his birthday, unaware of its more sinister nature.
Child’s Play sees Lars Klevberg (Polaroid) directing a cast that includes Aubrey Plaza (Ingrid Goes West), Brian Tyree Henry (Widows), Gabriel Bateman (Lights Out), Beatrice Kitsos (The Exorcist), Ty Consiglio (Wonder) and Carlease Burke (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle). It is set for release on June 21st 2019.
