1986 Sci-Fi Film Short Circuit Is Getting a Remake, For Serious This Time

1986 Sci-Fi Film Short Circuit Is Getting a Remake, For Serious This Time

The only thing I know about the original Short Circuit is it’s the origin of the name Johnny 5. Maybe I’ll learn more when it’s remade, a prospect about which there have been rumours for a while.

As reported by Deadline, Short Circuit is getting a remake courtesy of a collaboration between Spyglass Media Group and Project X Entertainment. (The two companies are also working on the Scream remake.) The remake will be a family film with a screenplay by the writing team of Eduardo Cisneros and Jason Shuman. Cisneros has written Instructions Not Included, and Shuman wrote Half Brothers. According to Deadline, the two were hired to “put a Latinx twist on the screenplay,” which presumably (?) means the film will be written through a lens of Latinx cultural experiences for Latinx actors.

The original film, I am told by people who were alive in the 1980s, was about an experimental military robot that gains sentience from a lightning strike and stars opposite Ally Sheedy, who was really in vogue in 1986. That movie was directed by John Badham. No word yet on who will be directing the remake, or how faithful it will be to the original. It’ll be produced by James Vanderbilt, Paul Neinstein, and William Sherak from Project X Entertainment.

[referenced id=”958963″ url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2016/04/johnny-five-our-one-true-robot-hero-might-soon-be-an-official-lego-set/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/29/xchqmvmitgiqzmci8jt0-300×154.jpg” title=”Johnny Five, Our One True Robot Hero, Might Soon Be An Official LEGO Set” excerpt=”Twenty-two years before WALL·E’s sermon about over-consumption hit theatres, an even better movie robot had already saved the day. Every child of the ’80s wanted Short Circuit’s Johnny Five as their best friend, and now that we’re all grown up, that might actually come true with a little help from…”]

The new Short Circuit is in pre-production. 


Editor’s Note: Release dates within this article are based in the U.S., but will be updated with local Australian dates as soon as we know more.