He’s brought us Muppets from Space. He pushed the Garfield sequel out into the world. He launched Alvin and the Chipmunks in their current cinematic incarnation. And, this year, he jazzed up the Easter Bunny with Hop. So what’s next on director Tim Hill’s agenda? Well, it doesn’t seem like the biggest leap from animated animals to talking robots, so Dimension Films has hired him to take over its planned Short Circuit reboot.
For all those who have never seen the 1986 original (Steve Guttenberg is scowling at you, we hope you realise this), it featured The Gutte and Ally Sheedy in a tale of two people whose lives are forever altered when a military robot is struck by lightning and achieves sentience
The star of the show, of course, is the ‘bot himself, Johnny 5. Boasting a wide array of kiddie-pleasing catchphrases and a knack for slapstick learned from watching Three Stooges movies, he stole the heart of a generation. And then crushed it by appearing in the appalling sequel.
But now Dimension is hoping to win a whole new fan base, and has been hard at work on a remake since 2008, and originally hired Robot Chicken writer Dan Milano and Daddy Day Care director Steve Carr. Now, though, Hill oversee a new draft of the script and call the shots… No disassemble our childhood memories!