They're Still Moving Forward On That 'Child's Play' Remake No One Wants

There's still plenty of time for MGM to realize what a terrible mistake they're making, but the studio is apparently hell-bent on this terrible Child's Play remake idea. Director Lars Klevberg took to social media to announce the film is entering "week 1" – although it's not entirely clear what this means. No cast has been announced yet, so it seems unlike production is gearing up already. But one thing is clear: the remake is still happening, and that's stupid.

A Child's Play remake is a bad idea. Don't get me wrong – I'm not one of those anti-remake horror fans. In fact, there has been a large number of genuinely good horror remakes. But Child's Play is different. The franchise has thrived for 30 years, thanks primarily to original creator Don Mancini. Mancini and producer David Kirschner have kept the series alive while other slashers have come and gone. Each film added something new to the series, and in many ways, Child's Play already rebooted itself multiple times. It went from being straight-up horror to becoming more of a campy comedy, and then shifting back into a more of a thriller.

But Mancini and Kirschner aren't involved with this new remake. Neither is Brad Dourif, who provided the voice of Chucky throughout the entire franchise. And the new take on Chucky is getting rid of the possessed doll angle, and instead going for a story involving a "technologically-advanced doll." In other words, rather than having the soul of a serial killer inside a tiny toy, the new Child's Play is going to have some sort of malfunctioning robot. Hey, that's pretty damn boring!

At the moment, there's no official casting for the new film. We know that  Lars Klevberg, director of the completed but not-yet-released horror film Polaroid, is directing from a script by Tyler Burton Smith, who wrote Kung-Fury 2. David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith, who produced It, will produce the new film, with Aaron Schmidt executive producing. And word has it the film is being fast-tracked. But just how fast-tracked is it? Klevberg hopped onto Instagram to post a cover-page of the screenplay, with the caption "Week 1."

But what does this mean? Does the director mean the film has entered week 1 of production? If so, we should've had some casting announcements by now. Maybe this is the first week of meetings about the film? Or auditions? Or table-reads? I don't know. All I know is that I hate this idea. I also hate that MGM is cutting out Mancini and Kirschner to do their own (stupid) thing.

But all is not lost. Mancini and Kirschner will soldier on with their own version of the franchise. There's a TV show in the works, and Mancini and company plan to make future films as well. "We're still working on the series and also plan to continue the film franchise with Universal," the director said. "We intend to stay true to the universe we've created."

As for the new Child's Play, it arrives in theaters on Who Gives A Shit, 20Whatever.