Back in the spring, /Film exclusively reported that Walt Disney Pictures was working on a reboot of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The movie would continue in the same universe as the original film series, with Josh Gad playing the son of Rick Moranis’ character, Wayne Szalinski. Now a grown-up scientist himself, the Szalinksi son ends up accidentally shrinking his own kids. It’s the same story over again, and Disney felt like that warranted bringing back the original film’s director, Joe Johnston, who is now in talks to take the helm.
The Honey, I Shrunk the Kids reboot is simply titled Shrunk, just as we heard back in May. Though Disney once considered sending the movie to Disney+, Variety says the script by Todd Rosenberg sparked enough enthusiasm among executives that they wanted to give it a theatrical release. However, the project has not yet been officially greenlit, so that could change as early development continues.
The original Honey, I Shrunk the Kids was one of Disney’s most successful live-action films. Not only were there two sequels, one theatrically released and one direct-to-video, but there was a TV series that ran from 1997 to 2000. It’ll be interesting to see what is regarded as canon with Shrunk.
In any case, bringing Joe Johnston back for this movie is rather exciting. He has a penchant for fun family-friendly adventure without sacrificing the excitement. Jurassic Park III may not have been the best in that series, but The Rocketeer, Captain America: The First Avenger and, of course, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids are great evidence of what he can do behind the camera. Johnston was also reportedly on the verge of retirement, so the script must be pretty damn good to bring him back into the fray like this.
While I’m not too keen on the title of Shrunk, this legacy-quel sounds promising. We just hope that the movie doesn’t abandon practical effects in favor of tons of CGI. A big part of what made the original movie so fun were the practical effects used to make the regular world seem gigantic to the miniaturized kids.
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