Johnny Five is Alive Again!

The Hollywood remake machine is at it again and it would seem that none of our favorite 80’s films are safe. Karate Kid, Footloose and The Breakfast Club were all recently announced as remakes and now we can add Short Circuit to the growing list of iconic 80’s films slated for a remakeover.

Dimension Films is moving full steam ahead with Short Circuit and they have chosen writer Dan Milano to prep a script. David Foster, who produced the first Short Circuit, is back to produce the remake and will work alongside Ryan E. Heppe and John Hyde.

For those too young to remember Short Circuit, the story was about a group of five advanced robots created by Newton Crosby (Steve Guttenberg) for the US government, as replacements for military Special Forces. After lighting strikes robot number five, he becomes “alive”, calls himself Johnny Five and flirts with Ally Sheedy; all this happens while the government tries to hunt him down and get him back.

Milano, having watched the original during his high school years, says he is looking forward to the task of writing an updated Short Circuit. His writing credits include Adult Swim, Robot Chicken and he also co-created Greg the Bunny with Seth Green. Milano is looking to bring a subversive edge to Short Circuit’s original concept, and that would seem to fall in line with what Foster wants for the story:

We’re bringing Number 5 into the 21st Century and taking advantage of the improvements in robotics that are so massive that robots are now performing heart surgeries in hospitals,” said Foster.

There have been exhaustive discussions about the striking similarities between Pixar’s Wall-E and Johnny Five but even so, Foster has no plans to change the look of the iconic 80’s robot.

Foster added, “We think of ‘Wall-E’ as an extended trailer for our film, because it’s the same face.”

I like the choice of Dan Milano as the screenwriter. I think his style of comedy will fit very well with this movie, plus Foster did great job on the first movie so in my opinion he should do OK this time around as well. I am also happy to hear that Foster has no plans to change the appearance of Johnny Five because that would be a deal-breaker for me. The only red flag so far is the subversive edge Milano wants the film to have. Robots coming to life and attempting to take over the government is too much like the Terminator, The Matrix and iRobot.

I would much rather watch the original story about a lone robot out to keep himself from being disassembled. Then again, there really wasn’t anything wrong with the first film, so really is there any need to remake Short Circuit at all?

There have been no announcements about a cast for Short Circuit yet, but on a personal note, I would like to see Tim Blaney brought back to do the voice of Johnny Five. If Peter Cullen can come back to do Optimus Prime, then why not Blaney?

Are you excited to hear that Johnny Five is alive again?

There is currently no release date for Short Circuit.

Source: Variety