Johnny Five fans rejoice! Dimension’s remake of Short Circuit, the 1986 family comedy classic starring Steve Guttenberg and Ally Sheedy, is back on track. Deadline reports that Hop and Alvin and the Chipmunks director Tim Hill has signed on for the remake replacing the Paul Blart: Mall Cop team of director Steve Carr and writer Dan Milano. Hill is currently overseeing a new script.
For those with short memories, Short Circuit tells the story of a military robot that gets struck by lightning and becomes a sentient, childlike creature that happens to have a shoulder mounted laser cannon. Taking the name Number 5, after his manufacturing number, the robot goes on the run with his scientist creator, Guttenberg and his racial stereotype Indian sidekick, Fisher Stevens, in hot pursuit.
Number 5 takes refuge in the back of a snack truck owned by Ally Sheedy who unknowingly takes him home and then invites him in. The snack lady and the robot become friends and eventually go on the run together from the scientists as well as an evil military man played by go to 80’s bad guy G.W Bailey; now doing respectable work on the cable drama The Closer.
Dimension commissioned the Short Circuit remake several years ago but the project has languished. However, with the success of the recent Karate Kid reboot, the expected success of Footloose, and planned remakes of Running Man, Robo-Cop and several other popular 80’s titles, Dimension does not want to miss out on this 80’s renaissance.
The big questions remain: Will Steve Guttenberg cameo? Can Ally Sheedy be talked out of her indie movie career to cameo? And, can Fisher Stevens be as racially insensitive today as he was in 1986? No casting news has been relayed as of yet but Dimension is hot to get this movie up and running. It can only be a matter of time before a Zac Efron or a James Marsden or even a Tyrese is talking to a six foot tall, CGI robot.
