Paul Blart: Mall Cop Director To Helm Short Circuit Remake
We’ve known that Dimension would remakeShort Circuit, and we’ve known thatRobot ChickenwriterDan Milanowould be scripting. Now we’ve got a director:Steve Carr. Who? How about this: he’s the guy who directedPaul Blart: Mall Cop.
I haven’t seenPaul Blart: Mall Cop. It might be more funny than a lot of people would like to admit. (I doubt it, but trying to be fair here.) But knowing that I have no interest in seeingPaul Blart, I’m looking at Carr’s resume to get an idea of what to expect. MaybePaul Blartwasn’t really his fault. Let’s see…we’ve gotNext Fridayto start with. Funny enough, not a bad start. Then…uh-oh.Dr. Doolittle 2.Daddy Day Careand the very aptly titledAre We Done Yet?Yikes. I’m glad I had no particular ties to this remake in the first place.
Dan Milano replaced original creatorsS.S. WilsonandBrent Maddock, but he’s reportedly penned a fairly faithful update of the original film.Varietycalls it " a robot reboot that brings the iconic Johnny 5 into the 21st century," which jibes withwhat we ran when Milano was hired. Then he said he wanted to take advantage of advancements in robotics, though how that would affect the story beyond adding some extra options to flesh out the origin and capabilities of Johnny 5 is tough to predict.
If you’re looking at Carr’s resume and thinking Dimension is just out to create a broadly appealing film that can rope in the largest family fan base possible, you’re exactly right. Variety says “Short Circuitfits into Dimension’s priority of making franchise films, a list that includesScream 4,Spy Kids 4,Clive Barker’s Hellraiser[with which they’ve been having quite a tough time],Scanners[not that again] andAn American Werewolf in London.
