When it comes to the upcoming Child’s Play reboot, its journey to the screen has been somewhat of a strange ballad.
At first, fans were understandably put off by the decision to offer a new take on the franchise while the original timeline is still ongoing at another studio. Plus, lack of involvement from the series’ creator Don Mancini or lead actor Brad Dourif certainly didn’t help matters.
But once it was announced that none other than Mark Hamill had been enlisted as the new voice of Chucky, I think a fair amount of folks relaxed and said, “hey, maybe I’ll give this thing a chance.” Having already won over moviegoers in the past as both Luke Skywalker and the Joker, there’s a certain rapport Hamill has built with the public. Still, divisiveness remains following the unveiling of the latest trailer, as the picture appears a little too Saw-like.
But in a stroke of genius, the marketing department has been having fun at the expense of opening weekend rival Toy Story 4. And though nobody expects for Child’s Play to top the animated juggernaut financially, that hasn’t stopped Chucky from slaying the competition on promo posters. Already, he’s murdered Woody and Slinky Dog, and now he’s brought the pain to Buzz Lightyear (seen below).
Naturally, some tweaks had to be made to the design so that no lawsuits occur, be we all know what’s going on here. I’m sure horror fans will dig this, but then we may also see vigils calling for this toy-on-toy violence to cease. Or not.
In any case, those up to speed know of how Chucky himself has undergone changes of his own for the reboot, something director Lars Klevberg recently addressed:
“When I read the script, one of the first things I recognized was that Chucky was a great character in terms of that he changed. He had his motivations, and it came through his interaction with humans. His way of becoming sympathetic – that was something I really wanted to look into. I viewed the story as a Greek tragedy [for] Chucky… So Chucky having different emotions in this film was important to me.
“I don’t want to reveal that… But [Chucky’s] motivation is understandable from his point of view but also to us. We can understand why he’s behaving like that. If you understand the antagonist and his motivations, then you can identify with him. That’s why Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is one of my key inspirations… [How Chucky questions] his purpose once he starts to understand from us human beings.”
Child’s Play opens in theaters on June 21st.