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Some of you may be aware of the confusing mess going on with the Child's Play\Chucky series, so this is for those of you who may be a bit confused as to what this new movie by MGM is all about, and how it ties into the current series -- as well as the new television show coming out.
To start, Child's Play was released in 1988 and distributed by MGM. The movie detailed a red-headed doll possessed by the spirit of a serial killer who continues his killing spree in his new form. The story and characters were conceived by Don Mancini (with some script changes made for the movie) and was a hit with audiences -- turning Chucky into a cultural icon. The movie made $44 million (and only cost $9 million to make) so sequels were inevitable.
So along came Child’s Play 2 (1990), Child’s Play 3 (1991), Bride of Chucky (1998), Seed of Chucky (2004), Curse of Chucky (2013) and Cult of Chucky (2017) - the latter two not getting a theatrical release but certified fresh on Rottentomatoes if you can believe it.
All of these films were written by Mancini who never stopped continuing the Chucky saga, even directing the last three himself. It was then recently announced that Chucky was getting his own television show on Syfy called Child's Play: The TV Series. Aside from a raised eyebrow at reading the news, I wasn't even slightly interested... until I learned one of the executive producers of this new show is the creator of the recently canceled series, Channel Zero. A series I liked. A lot.
So that leads us to the recent trailer for the Child's Play reboot and how it ties into everything. Turns out MGM holds the rights to the first movie's story, and only the first movie. This means they are free to reboot it in the re-imagined fashion they seem to be going, with Chucky (or Buddi) not being possessed by a serial killer, but rather being the victim of some kind of rogue A.I. - some kind of red-headed, mini-Terminator or something.
If the movie is a hit, then MGM will likely make their own sequels off their reboot and we will have two alternative storyline involving the same doll - MGM's and Mancini's. So there ya' go. All the info about this crap you never wanted to know.
If you are wondering what Mancini thinks about all this, well he isn't too happy.
“MGM retained the rights to the first movie, so they’re rebooting that. 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 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 fucking decades.”
He's not the only one voicing their displeasure with the reboot. Jennifer Tilly, who played Tiffany Valentine in four of the films, tweeted: “New “Chucky” movie? Ummm…no. Tiffany and I are gonna sit this one out. #NotmyChucky”
Personally, I have no dog in this fight, although I can understand Mancini's frustration with MGM rebooting a series he's still actively working on. If the reboot is a hit, it could cause some confusion with your average movie-goer, which is obvious by some of the comments on the trailer by people who didn't even realize there have been two new Chucky movies made in recent years.
Any of you watch these movies? While they aren't on my list of favorite horror, Tilly at least makes Bride and Seed entertaining, and the last two were just overall good horror movies. Oh yeah, here's the new trailer:
Some of you may be aware of the confusing mess going on with the Child's Play\Chucky series, so this is for those of you who may be a bit confused as to what this new movie by MGM is all about, and how it ties into the current series -- as well as the new television show coming out.
To start, Child's Play was released in 1988 and distributed by MGM. The movie detailed a red-headed doll possessed by the spirit of a serial killer who continues his killing spree in his new form. The story and characters were conceived by Don Mancini (with some script changes made for the movie) and was a hit with audiences -- turning Chucky into a cultural icon. The movie made $44 million (and only cost $9 million to make) so sequels were inevitable.
So along came Child’s Play 2 (1990), Child’s Play 3 (1991), Bride of Chucky (1998), Seed of Chucky (2004), Curse of Chucky (2013) and Cult of Chucky (2017) - the latter two not getting a theatrical release but certified fresh on Rottentomatoes if you can believe it.
All of these films were written by Mancini who never stopped continuing the Chucky saga, even directing the last three himself. It was then recently announced that Chucky was getting his own television show on Syfy called Child's Play: The TV Series. Aside from a raised eyebrow at reading the news, I wasn't even slightly interested... until I learned one of the executive producers of this new show is the creator of the recently canceled series, Channel Zero. A series I liked. A lot.
So that leads us to the recent trailer for the Child's Play reboot and how it ties into everything. Turns out MGM holds the rights to the first movie's story, and only the first movie. This means they are free to reboot it in the re-imagined fashion they seem to be going, with Chucky (or Buddi) not being possessed by a serial killer, but rather being the victim of some kind of rogue A.I. - some kind of red-headed, mini-Terminator or something.
If the movie is a hit, then MGM will likely make their own sequels off their reboot and we will have two alternative storyline involving the same doll - MGM's and Mancini's. So there ya' go. All the info about this crap you never wanted to know.
If you are wondering what Mancini thinks about all this, well he isn't too happy.
“MGM retained the rights to the first movie, so they’re rebooting that. 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 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 fucking decades.”
He's not the only one voicing their displeasure with the reboot. Jennifer Tilly, who played Tiffany Valentine in four of the films, tweeted: “New “Chucky” movie? Ummm…no. Tiffany and I are gonna sit this one out. #NotmyChucky”
Personally, I have no dog in this fight, although I can understand Mancini's frustration with MGM rebooting a series he's still actively working on. If the reboot is a hit, it could cause some confusion with your average movie-goer, which is obvious by some of the comments on the trailer by people who didn't even realize there have been two new Chucky movies made in recent years.
Any of you watch these movies? While they aren't on my list of favorite horror, Tilly at least makes Bride and Seed entertaining, and the last two were just overall good horror movies. Oh yeah, here's the new trailer:
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