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Rick Moranis Returning For Disney’s New Honey, I Shrunk The Kids Movie
Original Honey, I Shrunk the Kids star Rick Moranis is returning for Disney's upcoming sequel, Shrunk. Released in 1989, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids starred Moranis as Wayne Szalinski, an eccentric scientist who invents a shrinking machine only to inadvertently shrink his children (and the kids next door) down to a quarter of an inch in size. After the film became a success, Moranis would go on to reprise his role in both the theatrically-released 1992 sequel, Honey, I Blew Up the Kid, and 1997's direct to video followup, Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves.
That same year, Moranis also semi-retired from acting in order to focus on raising his two kids following his wife's death from cancer in 1991. However, he did continue to do some voice-acting in the years that followed, including his role in Disney's animated movie Brother Bear in 2002. More recently, he reprised the voice of his classic Spaceballs character (and Darth Varder caricature), Lord Dark Helmet, during a 2018 episode of The Goldbergs. And although Disney shot down a report last week claiming he will return as Wayne Szalinski in the Shrunk sequel, it appears he is coming back to the franchise after all.
Deadline is reporting Moranis has, in fact, closed a deal to reprise his Honey, I Shrunk the Kids character in Shrunk. Josh Gad is starring in the sequel as Szalinski's now-grown son Nick, an inventor who (like hit father) creates a shrinking device only to accidentally end up using it on his children.
Moranis isn't the only franchise veteran returning for this new Shrunk sequel, either. Back in December, it was reported original Honey, I Shrunk the Kids helmsman Joe Johnston had formally boarded the project, making this the first movie in the series he's directed since the 1989 original. Disney had initially intended to release Shrunk as an exclusive on its Disney+ streaming service, but changed their minds after reading Todd Rosenberg's most recent script draft. The film is now getting a theatrical release instead, with production most likely getting underway later this year (assuming the recent wave of updates is anything to gauge by).
Between his role in Shrunk and his upcoming appearance in the Martin Scorsese-directed Netflix documentary, An Afternoon with SCTV, Moranis is already on his way to making a proper comeback as an actor. He's been hesitant about returning to his franchises in the past (having passed over making a cameo in 2016's Ghostbusters, for instance), but it seems the father-son storyline in Shrunk was promising enough to tempt him back into the arena. It was also strong enough to get Johnston onboard as a director, which is equally encouraging. Who knows: the way things are shaping up, Shrunk might just - surprisingly - prove to be one of the better legacy sequels of late.
