Disney’s New Honey, I Shrunk The Kids Sequel: All We Know About The Fourth Movie
Here's everything we know about the new Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. You can also call it Honey, I Shrunk the Kids 4.
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Honey, I Shrunk the Kids is coming back but not as a reboot of the original franchise, as a sequel. In May 2019, Disney announced a sequel movie to Honey I Shrunk the Kids coming on Disney+, but now it seems it Honey, I Shrunk the Kids 4 could end up as a theatrical release.
Here’s everything we know about the new Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. You can also call it Honey, I Shrunk the Kids 4. There’s no official title yet but it’s the fourth movie in the franchise.
Rick Moranis Returns
Film favorite, Rick Moranis has signed appear in the new Honey I Shrunk the Kids movie. Having him on board is a big deal. Moranis has been semi-retired from acting since the mid-90s. What happened?
In 1991 cancer claimed the life of Rick’s wife, costume designer Ann Belsky. Moranis kept working for awhile, but he began slowly withdrawing from Hollywood to focus on raising their children alone as a full-time single father. By the mid-nineties he had all but retired from acting totally. Moranis told USA Today in 2005, “I’m a single parent, and I just found that it was too difficult to manage to raise my kids and doing the traveling involved in making movies. So, I took a little bit of a break, and that little bit of a break turned into a longer break…”
Rick Moranis himself confirmed his return for Honey, I Shrunk the Kids 4 with the following tweet…
Yes that is actually Rick Moranis’s Twitter and in a hilariously perfect twist, even though he’s been on Twitter a long time he isn’t verified. Welcome back Rick! Someone give this man a blue check.
Directing The New Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie
Joe Johnston, the director of the 1989 Honey, I Shrunk the Kids will direct the sequel. While Johnston was not involved with the two sequels to the original film, he has directed a lot of other great movies including: The Rocketeer (1991), Jumanji (1995) October Sky (1999), and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011).
Johnston, who is also a former visual effects artist, started his career as a concept artist on the first Star Wars film. Thanks to his association with George Lucas, he became one of the four to win an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for Star Wars and later Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Disney also met with other directors for the new Honey, I Shrunk The Kids. But they felt bringing Johnston back would be perfect for everyone involved, especially the return of Rick Moranis. Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman are producing the movie through their Mandeville Films and Television with Todd Rosenberg penning the script.
The Cast
Apart from Rick Moranis, Beauty and the Beast and Frozen actor, Josh Gad will play Adam Szalinski, the son of Wayne Szalinski, Rick Moranis’s character. Josh Gad pitched the idea of the sequel to Disney, and the execs jumped at it.
Josh Gad recently returned and voiced Olaf in Frozen 2, which grossed $750 million worldwide. He’s expected to star in Disney’s Artemis Fowl and Hulu’s horror-comedy Little Monsters.
Rick Moranis, as previously mentioned, is in. We don’t yet know how in he is, though. This could still just be a cameo or he could end up as the movie’s second lead, or anything in between.
The Plot Of Honey I Shrunk The Kids 4
In the new Honey, I Shrunk the Kids a lot of time has passed and the kids who got shrunk in the first movie have grown up and had kids of their own. Adam Szalinski follows in his father’s footsteps to become a scientist but ends up accidentally shrinking his children, just like his dad. Given his Dad’s prior experience with just such a mishap, it might make sense that he’d call up Wayne Szalinski for help, which could be where Rick Moranis fits in to the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids 4 plot.
The new Honey, I Shrunk the Kids movie is expected to fit into the existing Honey I Shrunk the Kids canon. Disney has previously released three movies in the series: Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Honey I Blew Up the Kid, and Honey We Shrunk Ourselves.
In the original film, Wayne Szalinski, played by Rick Moranis, shrinks his daughter and son along with two brothers from next door. He ends up throwing them out with the trash, and now, the kids have to travel back to the house through their backyard while fending off insects and the lawnmower.
The New Honey I Shrunk the Kids Release Date
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids 4 is still in the early development stages and Disney has yet to announce the official release date. Our best guess it that Disney will likely release it theatrically in 2021. The original Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, and the two sequels, the movies are available to stream on Disney+ right now.
Honey, I Shrunk The Kids History
The original Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) was a massive success at the box office. The film raked in over $222 million worldwide and became the highest-grossing live-action Disney film ever. The movie held that record for five years.
It spawned two sequels: Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992), and Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves (1997) plus a TV series and theme park attractions. Other cast members in the original movie included Matt Frewer as Russel Thompson, Sr, the late Marcia Strassman as Diane Szalinski, and Kristine Sutherland as Mae Thompson.
Other notable cast members included Amy O’Neill as Amy Szalinski, Robert Oliveri as Nick Szalinski, Thomas Wilson Brown as Russel Thompson, Jr, and Jared Rushton as Ronald Thompson. No word yet on if any of those other cast members will return for Honey, I Shrunk The Kids 4.
The 1989 Honey, I Shrunk the Kids was brought to Disney Studios by Brian Yuzna and Stuart Gordon. Later, Gordon was chosen to direct the film while Yuzna produced it. Originally written as Teeny Weenies by Ed Naha, Yuzna and Gordon, Tom Schulman was later added as a screenwriter. Gordon dropped out as director due to illness before filming began, and Joe Johnston replaced him.
Honey, I Shrunk The Kids was originally called Teenie Weenies. That title was later changed to Grounded to appeal to a mature audience before being rejected in favor of The Big Backyard. The film finally got its title, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, from a line Wayne Szalinski (Rick Moranis) delivers to his wife, Diane (Marcia Strassman).
