Orion Pictures and MGM are currently developing the Child’s Play reboot, but it turns out Chucky-creator Don Mancini isn’t happy about it, nor is he involved.
Don Mancini appeared recently on the Post Mortem podcast where he offered he isn’t happy about the reboot.
“MGM retained the rights to the first movie, so they’re rebooting that,” Mancini said. “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. You 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 f—ing decades.”
Mancini then brings up a good point comparing what is going on with Child’s Play to if he was involved with IT.
“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 said. “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.”
Worth a mention is that the Child’s Play reboot doesn’t appear to be referring to the doll as “Chucky,” but presently only as “Buddi” in various posters and promotions that have been released.
A quick check of Rotten Tomatoes also confirms that Don Mancini’s previous two Chucky movies, Cult of Chucky and Curse of Chucky, do have a high 83% at Rotten Tomatoes, which is really high for a horror movie.
Perhaps if the Child’s Play reboot is a big hit, it could benefit Mancini’s Chucky movies down the road, but the opposite holds true as well, if the Child’s Play remake bombs big time, it could really tamper further Chucky movies, and it is especially problematic when you have no say in the creative direction.
Kudos to Mancini and Kirschner for not selling out.
