Johnny 5 is Alive! Tim Hill to direct Short Circuit remake

Is nothing sacred? Have you read any of our film reviews lately? Have you noticed a certain actor's mug gracing our precious rating scale? Yes, it's Steve Guttenberg, so as you can imagine we have a certain fondness for the actor's extensive 1980s filmography. Perhaps the one I adore most is Short Circuit, in which he teams up with Ally Sheedy(The Breakfast Club) to protect a robot named Number 5(later Johnny 5), made self aware by a random lightning strike. I'll leave comment on the ill-advised sequel for another day, but Short Circuit is one of those movies I quietly hoped would remain untouched by the recent remake boom.

But my wishes have fallen on deaf ears, with Deadline reporting today that Tim Hill(Alvin and the Chipmunks) has been tasked with bringing Number 5's story to a whole new audience. The project has been in the works for a couple of years, with Paul Blart: Mall Cop director Steve Carr initially attached, with writer Dan Milano.  Thankfully Carr stepped aside, lest the Guttenberg role be handed over to Kevin James, but Milano is still aboard.

People forget that we were almost graced with a Short Circuit 3 back around 1990, but wiser heads prevailed. I big part of me wants that to happen now, but it's starting to look inevitable. If it's going to happen anyway, Hill isn't that terrible of a choice. Short Circuit is very much a family friendly story, and he's had tremendous success with those types movies. His most recent film was the terribly misguided Easter bunny pic, Hop.