Josh Gad Reveals Surprising Update on Honey I Shrunk the Kids Reboot With Rick Moranis

Josh Gad might be a key part of one of Disney’s biggest animation franchises, but it seems like he is having a pretty tough road to projects made by Disney. The Frozen star, whose Muppets Live Another Day was cancelled at Disney+ before the pilot ever got into production, now says his movie Shrunk is also at risk. Sharing a mock-up poster for the film — a sequel to the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids movies, which is set to star Rick Moranis — Gad admits that there have been numerous false starts, and encourages fans to express their enthusiasm to Disney at this point.

The original 1989 film, directed by Captain America: The First Avenger‘s Joe Johnston, saw  Rick Moranis (Ghostbusters) as Wayne Szalinski, a struggling scientist invents a machine that can shrink matter to a tiny fraction of its original size, while maintaining structural integrity. The story takes a twist when Wayne’s kids, as well as two of his neighbors’ kids, accidentally get shrunk down, and must venture across the jungle-like expanse of the Szalinski back yard, in order to get back to the house and back to their normal size.

“A lot of you ask me what’s going on with this film,” Gad tweeted. “Truth is, we were inches from starting, and then COVID hit, inches from starting again, and then my schedule exploded with conflicts, inches from starting again, and budget got the best of us. If you want it, let your local Disney know.”

The first movie was a huge box office hit, spawning two sequels and a TV series, as well as a Disney Parks attraction that included a short video starring Moranis in the queue. Moranis, who starred in all three of the feature films, famously scaled his acting career way back following the death of his wife, choosing to focus on raising his kids. More recently, with his kids now grown, he has talked about returning to acting, if the right project comes along. 

Moranis had committed to Shrunk, which Gad is set to write, produce, and star in. Johnston is expected to return to direct.

There is no official synopsis or release date for Shrunk yet, and  with a few recent box office disappointments, it’s very possible that budgeting could continue to be an issue for Disney movies that aren’t Marvel, Star Wars, or other big-name IPs for the foreseeable future. The fact that the movie was being envisioned as a theatrical release likely helps it, considering streaming sequels like Willow, Turner & Hooch, and The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers have all since been scrubbed from the internet by Disney.