In the original Short Circuit, Johnny-5 was a robot programmed to put an end to the Cold War. A lighting strike caused the robot to become sentient, and Johnny-5 aborted his killer programming and evolved into a robot with a heart of gold. This non-threatening and cute robot paved the way for similarly-themed movies like The Iron Giant and Wall-E.
So it’s no surprise that the beloved ’80s movie is getting rebooted, although this particular reboot may not be as light and endearing as its predecessor. In fact, director Tim Hill is hoping to make the film slightly darker and edgier while maintaining its family-friendly context.
It’s a tall order for a remake that no one really asked for, but Hill truly believes that a new Short Circuit is just the thing that movie audiences will love. In an interview with 24 Frames, Hill shed some light about the new Short Circuit:
“The thing that makes it so relevant is that we live in this age of robots, particularly when it comes to war. We have drones that do our fighting for us, do all these jobs men and women don’t want to do. And that’s what makes this so interesting — things like this moment in the story when Johnny realizes he’s going to be disassembled and contemplates death, and whether it’s right to terminate someone else.”
While not completely different from its predecessor, Hill wants to have the themes of war play an important part in his Short Circuit. In addition to these changes, the film’s human protagonist will be a teenager this time around as opposed to the early twenty-year-old seen in the original. This will allow younger audiences to relate to the character and maintain its family friendly feel – An interesting approach considering Hill wants to address the issues war.
“If you look at kids and how they adopt machinery, it’s just getting tight and tighter. We’re just becoming more connected to our machines. That’s why I think this can say more about our relationship with technology than the original ever did.”
It should be interesting to see just how Hill is able to balance the issues of war and still make it family-friendly for modern audiences. For an interesting look at how society may utilize tech in their daily lives in the near future, check out Google’s augmented reality glasses at our sister site, Game Rant.
Tim Hill and a team of writers are currently working on the script for the Short Circuit reboot which is expected to hit theaters sometime in 2013.
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Source: 24 Frames
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I just want to publicly declare my disapproval of this reboot even existing. >:(
damn, i had almost forgotten about this, thanks for reminded me of this atrocity screenrant!
someone really needs to come up for a phrase to replace “darker and edgier” whenever that particular phrase comes about i loose a lot of faith in the project.
“gloomier and pointier” perhaps? haha
reminding*
Look at the bright side, at least they won’t be turning it into a comedy with Jonah Hill or another of his ilk.
I would actually rather see a more comedic light hearted version than another “Dark and Gritty Real World” look movie……. I swear, after Tarantino did Pulp Fiction, every film for 10 years had to copy his style and ultraviolence, nowadays we’re having the Nolan hangover where everything is “Dark, Gritty, Real World” versions of classics. While it works for some movies, it shouldn’t be the recipe for EVERY film that is coming out
I really don’t need that ! And most of the people around me either !
Who is financing this guy anyway ?
Can’t believe that got green lit !
yeah,instant red flag the moment read about replacing the main char with some punk
…can almost see some dork whitwiki liike clone…can almost see the usual cheerleader like girl who somehow ends up with this guy as well
not watching this, when are the studios going to realize that not everything needs to be rebooted? If it worked then, leave it alone and come up with some original ideas for once
Not happy about this one at all. Whats next? The Princes Bride? Cant some things be left alone
I hope Johnny 5 Short Circuits and kills the writer, producer and director.
WHY?!?!?
never saw the original. “darker and edgier” is getting annoying though. just say something like more grounded, or something!
I wish I had a nickel for every time a film was going to be remade to be “darker and edgier”. It just shows how unoriginal Hollywood is: take Nolan’s success with the Batman reboots and apply that “dark and edgy” formula ad nauseum – because if it worked for Batman it’s gotta work for everything else.
This is a classic from my childhood that does not need a reboot.
No disassemble Number Five!
Another remake from Hollywood that no one wants.
I just hope that Hollywood doesn’t remake The Gremlins or The Goonies, those films are my favourite classic kids movies.
so it has come to this…
Screen Rant should have a recurring article titled,
‘ Reboots, Remakes and Re-images that Nobody asked for ‘
Arguably there would be one at least once a month…
I remember Willie Wonka and the CHoclate Factory. Im a bit older then most on here and that was a movie I thought was special when I was young. Then the did the remake and it was horrid
Horrid is almost a compliment
Can they please just stop trying to remake these classic films. They were of one time, one special era of movies that can’t be replicated again.
STOP, STOP, STOP
The “ONLY” way I will “EVER” watch this on purpose is if the use the original #5 robot. All I can imagine is a Will Smith’s I-Robot cgi crapfest
Guttenberg was late-20s in Short Circuit. And wasn’t it nice to get to see adults in movies back then? If they remake Wargames, David will be 10.
Yes, but Ally Sheedy was the human protagonist, and she was 23 when the movie was filmed.
this is the kind of thing the avengers need to assemble to stop…
so evil, too great for one person to handle.
Other than Star Trek which has been morphed into many different versions over the years to the point that most any new version can be seen as the same, but in a different realm….Most of these attempts to take old movies and/or series to make a movie from turn out horrible. Look at the recent A-Team…The original wasn’t too good, but somehow they managed to make the movie even worse…
Short Circut was kind of a whimiscal family orientated movie geared for its time….To make it geared for 30 some years later to reflect modern technology….I doubt they’d be able to capture that same atmosphere
I think a darker theme with a bit more scary military robot realizing it doesn’t want to die (or kill!) is great. Short Circuit will always be there, this will not be able to ruin my childhood. I am interested in seeing where they go with this.