Child’s Play Roasts Toy Story in New Poster

The Child’s Play franchise debuted in 1988, introducing audiences to the pint-sized killer doll Chucky, whose reign of terror continued over the course of seven films. Given his small stature, the killer doesn’t necessarily strike fear into the hearts of all audiences, with the series regularly leaning into the absurdity of the premise to entertain viewers. An upcoming reboot of the original installment is hitting theaters next month, competing with another franchise full of beloved toys, Toy Story 4. A new poster for the horror film reboot directly references its competition, depicting Chucky as cooking Toy Story‘s slinky dog over a fire.

Child’s Play follows a mother (Aubrey Plaza) who gives her son (Mike and Gabriel Bateman) a toy doll for his birthday, unaware of its more sinister nature. The film was directed by Lars Klevberg.

This is only the latest poster for the reboot that pokes fun at Toy Story 4, with an earlier poster featuring a similar color scheme to the Pixar project’s poster, with Child’s Play depicting the crumpled up corpse of the beloved cowboy Woody. Clearly the horror film hopes to serve as counter-programming in its opening weekend, with the new Pixar film sure to top the box office when it hits theaters.

Recent estimates about Child’s Play‘s opening weekend predicted that the film could take anywhere between $12 and $22 million, while Toy Story 4 is on track to take in more than $130 million.

It’s currently unclear how the new film will fare with audiences, as the reaction to the series has been mixed up to this point. The original film explored the story of a murderer who uses a voodoo ritual to transfer his consciousness into that of a pint-sized doll, allowing him to continue his reign of terror. This new film, however, will change this origin story and will instead explore the concept of a toy whose A.I. malfunctions, allowing him to wreak havoc.

In addition to this narrative change, the new Chucky doll looks quite different from the doll depicted in other films, with iconic actor Brad Dourif being replaced as the voice of the character by Mark Hamill. Fans are disappointed that Dourif isn’t involved, though others are excited by the impressive actor lending his skills to this new incarnation.

Child’s Play hits theaters on June 21st.

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