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Child's Play Creator Negatively Reacts to Reveal of Remake's Chucky
Production on the Child’s Play remake has begun, and hours after the reveal of Chucky’s new look, his creator, Don Mancini, shared his thoughts on it – and they weren't exactly positive. Back in July, MGM announced a remake of the 1988 horror classic, with Lars Klevberg on board as director and Tyler Burton Smith in charge of the script.
Created by Don Mancini, Child’s Play is a long-running horror franchise that began with director Tom Holland’s film in 1988, and has since lived-on through six sequels, most recently Cult of Chucky in 2017. Mancini has been involved in all the films as screenwriter, and even directed the last three entries into the franchise; the remake, however, does not include Mancini at all, and given the recent updates on the film, he took the time to share his thoughts on it.
Via Twitter, Mancini reacted to Chucky’s new look in MGM’s reboot with a simple (but very straightforward) message. Fans of Mancini and the Child’s Play franchise celebrated his reaction, and have been showing their support to the filmmaker.
Starring in the reboot will be Gabriel Bateman as Andy Barclay, Aubrey Plaza as Karen Barclay (Andy’s mother), and Brian Tyree Henry as Det. Mike Norris. The story will follow the same line as the original, in which a mother gives her son a toy doll as a birthday present “unaware of its more sinister nature”. However, it's been heavily rumored that Chucky’s origin will be entirely different: instead of being possessed by a serial killer, the story will be about a possessed “Buddy Doll” programmed to be violent by a Chinese factory worker named Chen, who later kills himself after re-programming the doll.
MGM holds the rights to the first Child’s Play film, meaning that they can remake it regardless of Mancini’s opinion, while Universal owns the rights to the sequels - hence why Mancini can proceed onward with his Child’s Play TV series. Brad Dourif, iconic voice of the killer doll, is not involved with the remake, but will reprise his role for the TV series. This all points to the studio trying to somehow create a fresh start for a well-established (and still ongoing) franchise, and by changing Chucky’s origin, they would be leaving a big part of Mancini’s creative signature behind. Naturally, most Chucky fans are very much siding with Mancini, with many saying they won't support MGM's attempt to do a remake without Mancini's approval. For now, fans can only wait and see if this new Child’s Play manages to make Mancini change his mind, or if he stands by his initial reaction.
