Child's Play (film series)

Child's Play (franchise)
Child's Play Collection DVD box set
Directed by	Tom Holland John Lafia Jack Bender Ronny Yu Don Mancini
Produced by	Robert Lathan Brown Grace Gilroy
Written by	Don Mancini David Kirschner Corey Sienega Screenplay: Don Mancini Tom Holland John Lafia Story: Don Mancini
Starring	Brad Dourif Jennifer Tilly Alex Vincent Catherine Hicks Chris Sarandon Jenny Agutter Gerrit Graham Christine Elise Justin Whalin Perry Reeves Jeremy Sylvers Tommy Smerdlow Travis Fine Dean Jacobson Katherine Heigl John Ritter Nick Stabile Redman Billy Boyd
Distributed by	United Artists (1988) Universal Pictures (1990–present) Rogue Pictures (through Universal Pictures) (2004–present)
Release date(s)	1988–2004
Running time	437 min. (total)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$72 million (combined total 1–5)
Box office	$126,194,464 (United States) $182,042,376 (Worldwide)

Child's Play is a horror film franchise created by Don Mancini, with its first installment, Child's Play, being released on November 9, 1988. The film has so far spawned four sequels and has gone into other media, such as comic books. The films all feature Chucky, a killer Good Guys doll with the soul of the "Lakeshore Strangler" Charles Lee Ray. The films have grossed over US$176 million at the worldwide box office.

The series originally started out aiming towards a straight-out horror theme with Child's Play, Child's Play 2 and Child's Play 3, but became more as a horror/comedy as they went on, especially starting with 1998's Bride of Chucky and more so with 2004's Seed of Chucky.

In January 2010, Horrorbid.com reported that Universal has given the greenlight for the remake (with Brad Dourif reprising his role as Chucky), but pre-production has yet to begin. It was recently announced that the remake is slated for release in 2012 or 2013.

Major characters

• Chucky (played by Brad Dourif) - The principal antagonist of the series. A merciless murderer whose soul gets stuck in a doll. He usually kills 'anyone' who gets in his way and frames the main protagonist(s) of each film for them. He is the only character to appear in all of the films in the franchise.
• Andy Barclay (played by Alex Vincent and Justin Whalin) - The original protagonist who Chucky goes after to transfer his soul into the boy's body, as well as successfully framing him for the murders. Appears in the first three films
• Karen Barclay (played by Catherine Hicks) - Andy's mother who buys him a Good Guy doll for his birthday unaware that the one she picked was possessed by a serial killer. Initially she refuses to believe that Chucky was alive but she soon finds out when he comes alive and tries to kill her. In Child's Play 2 she is written out of the story when she was taken away to an insane asylum when no one believes her about Chucky. Appears only in the first film and is mentioned in the second and third films.
• Detective Mike Norris (played by Chris Sarandon) - A detective investigating the murder of Andy's babysitter. He is also responsible for Chucky's demise prompting him to transfer his soul into a Good Guy doll. He initially refuses to believe the Barclays but when Chucky tries to kill him, he becomes an ally to the family. Appears only in the first film.
• Kyle (played by Christine Elise) - Andy's teenage foster sister whom he ends up staying with. At first she finds Andy to be a pain on her side but starts to back up his story about Chucky when she witnesses him trying to take his soul and later finds their foster mother murdered by Chucky. She then goes to find Andy (under Chucky's commend) and ends up saving his life in the Play Pals factory as well as helping him destroy Chucky after he tries to kill him after the voodoo soul transfer spell goes awry. Appears in the second film and was written out of the series and was never seen again but was briefly mentioned in the third film when Andy re-encounters Chucky again.
• Mr. Sullivan (played by Peter Haskell) - The greedy and arrogant CEO of Good Guy Toys Inc., First appears in Child's Play 2 upon learning of Andy's Good Guy Doll supposedly becoming possessed by the soul of Charles Lee Ray, and tries to protect the company's reputation from angry stockholders. He also appears in Child's Play 3 when he moves Good Guys Toys forward with producing more dolls, however he is killed by Chucky when he accesses Sullivan's office computer to find Andy in Military School.
• Ronald Tyler (played by Jeremy Sylvers) - A young private boy who befriends Andy at the military school he is sent to after failing to cope with living at a series of foster homes. When he finds Chucky (who mailed himself to the same military school to go after Andy again) he decides to go after Tyler instead. At first, Tyler finds Chucky to be a nice guy but realizes the true colors of the doll's evil murderous ways once he attempts to transfer his soul into his body much like he attempted to do with Andy in the first two films. Appears in the third film, written out of the series (along with Andy) but was originally going to be killed off alongside Andy in the original draft to Seed of Chucky.
• Kristen De Silva (played by Perrey Reeves) - Andy's girlfriend at the military school he attends, ends up sticking up for him when Shelton and the other guys take a liking in bullying him. Appears in the third film.
• Jack Santos (played by Tommy Swerdlow) - Mike's partner who was also investigating Andy's babysitter's death. In the beginning of the first film, he was mostly the cop who drove Mike's car to chase Eddie Caputo in his van. He was also one of the police officers that believed Andy was the killer. During the end, he tried to show Mike that Chucky wasn't alive, but was nearly killed by him and then he believed that the Barclays and Mike were telling the truth. He only appeared in the first film.
• Tiffany (played by Jennifer Tilly) - Charles Lee Ray's ex-girlfriend (and later, on, ex-wife) who later gets her soul stuck in a doll like Chucky. Appears in Bride and Seed.
• Glen Ray (Tilly) (played by Billy Boyd) - Chucky and Tiffany's original child and Glenda's twin brother. He was an orphan for the first five or six years of his life until he saw his parents on television. Glen is a good person, and he doesn't like violence and definitely does not like murder like his parents. He fears but still loves his dad due to the fact he killed Chucky in a misunderstanding. He is the only living doll character not to be voiced by an Academy Award nominee. Appears in Bride (at the end as an infant) and Seed.
• Glenda Ray (Tilly) - Chucky and Tiffany's second child and the twin sister of Glen. Was originally part of Glen's mind but was reborn as a human. She is violent, sadistic, and cruel. She is even more ruthless than her father. Appears in Seed.
• Jesse (played by Nick Stabile) - former friend of Tiffany Ray and boyfriend of Jade. He was greatly disliked by Jade's uncle and believed to be responsible for his death until Chucky and Tiffany reveals themselves. In the end, Jade kills Chucky and she and Jesse leave the scene. It is unknown what happened to them afterwards. Appears in Bride of Chucky; mentioned and killed in early draft of Seed of Chucky.
• Jade (played by Katherine Heigl) - girlfriend of Jesse. Her uncle Warren is killed by Chucky and Tiffany early in the film. In the end, she shoots Chucky dead, and she and Jesse leave the scene. It is unknown what happened to them afterwards. Appears in Bride of Chucky; mentioned and killed in early draft of Seed of Chucky.

Overview

Film	Year	Cast	Director	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Distributor(s)
Child's Play	1988	Catherine Hicks Chris Sarandon Brad Dourif Alex Vincent	Tom Holland	Story: Don Mancini Screenplay: Don Mancini John Lafia Tom Holland	David Kirschner	MGM/United Artists
Child's Play 2	1990	Alex Vincent Jenny Agutter Gerrit Graham Christine Elise Brad Dourif	John Lafia	Don Mancini		Universal Pictures
Child's Play 3	1991	Justin Whalin Perrey Reeves Jeremy Sylvers Travis Fine Dean Jacobson Brad Dourif	Jack Bender
Bride of Chucky	1998	Jennifer Tilly Brad Dourif Katherine Heigl Nick Stabile	Ronny Yu		Grace Gilroy David Kirschner
Seed of Chucky	2004	Jennifer Tilly Redman Hannah Spearritt Billy Boyd Brad Dourif	Don Mancini		David Kirschner Corey Sienega	Rogue Pictures

Reception

Box office

Film	Release date	Box office revenue			Box office ranking		Budget	Reference
		United States	Foreign	Worldwide	All time domestic	All time worldwide
Child's Play	November 9, 1988	$33,244,684	$10,952,000	$44,196,684	#1,680		$9,000,000
Child's Play 2	November 9, 1990	$28,501,605	$7,262,000	$35,763,605	#1,916		$13,000,000
Child's Play 3	August 30, 1991	$14,960,255	$5,600,000	$20,560,255	#2,896		$13,000,000
Bride of Chucky	October 16, 1998	$32,404,188	$18,288,000	$50,692,188	#1,727		$25,000,000
Seed of Chucky	November 12, 2004	$17,083,732	$7,745,912	$24,829,644	#2,685		$12,000,000
Total		$126,194,464	$49,847,912	$176,042,376			$72,000,000(E)
List indicator(s) A dark grey cell indicates the information is not available for the film. (E) indicates an estimated figure based on available numbers.

Reviews

Film	Rotten Tomatoes		Metacritic
	Overall	Top Critics
Child's Play	68% (28 reviews)	N/A% (4 reviews)
Child's Play 2	43% (14 reviews)	N/A% (1 review)
Child's Play 3	23% (13 reviews)	N/A% (2 reviews)
Bride of Chucky	42% (33 reviews)	20% (5 reviews)
Seed of Chucky	33% (72 reviews)	11% (18 reviews)	46/100 (17 reviews)
Average Ratings	42%

Comic books

Innovation Publishing

Beginning in 1990, Innovation Publishing released the first comic books based on the films, in the form of a three issue adaptation of Child's Play 2. It was later collected in a trade paperback. The success of the adaptation led to a monthly series of new stories starting in 1991. The series, titled Child's Play: The Series, ended in 1992 after only five issues. This was followed by a three issue adaptation of Child's Play 3.

Devil's Due Publishing

In 2007, Devil's Due Publishing obtained the license to publish Child's Play comics and released a one-shot crossover with Hack/Slash titled Hack/Slash vs. Chucky which takes place after the events of the Seed of Chucky film. This was followed by a four-issue series called Chucky. A second volume began in early 2009 but ceased publication after only one issue.

Possible remake

In an August 2008 interview, Don Mancini and David Kirschner spoke of a planned reboot of the franchise to be written and directed by Mancini. They described their choice of a remake over a sequel as a response to the will of the fans, who "want to see a scary Chucky movie again", and "want to go back to the straightforward horror rather than the horror comedy." They indicated that Brad Dourif would return as the voice of Chucky, and will be released in 2013. In a subsequent interview, Mancini described the remake as a darker and scarier retelling of the original movie, but one that, while having new twists and turns, will not stray too far from the original concept. At a 2009 horror convention, Brad Dourif confirmed his role in the remake. It was also confirmed in several interviews.