Don Mancini Holds Little Back Claiming MGM is “Screwing” Franchise with CHILD’S PLAY Remake
Josh Millican
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“It’s just business. Don’t take it personally.”
How many times have we all heard the line above, either in real life or in a movie/TV show? There seems to be some sort of moral loophole that allows executives to crush people’s spirits as long as there’s a financial gain involved. But for the person being spoken to, it certainly feels personal. Such is the case with Don Mancini, who got candid about his feelings regarding MGM’s reboot of Child’s Play (currently in post-production eyeing a 2019 release date).
We’ve been following the story ourselves with a mixture of disappointment and curiosity. We’re huge supporters of Mancini, especially since he’s revived the Child’s Play franchise in a major way with 2013’s Curse of Chucky and last year’s Cult of Chucky. We also know that Mancini is working on a Chucky TV series will the original cast of characters we’ve come to know over the past 3 decades.
Mancini’s comments came during an interview with Mick Garris on the Post Mortem podcast. Here’s the bulk of it:
“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. 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 fucking decades.
“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. 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 (2017). 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.”
You can listen to this episode of Post Mortem in its entirety, HERE.
Look for MGM’s Child’s Play to hit US theaters on June 21st. The film is directed by Lars Klevberg from a script penned by Tyler Burton Smith and stars Aubrey Plaza, Brian Tyree Henry, and Gabriel Bateman. Despite the support and empathy we have for Mancini, we’ll be keeping our eyes on this production as well. No trailer yet, but we’ll keep you posted.
What do you think of Mancini’s candid remarks about MGM’s Child’s Play reboot? Sound off in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram!
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