Don Mancini’s next Chucky movie is being developed for theaters, with the franchise creator writing and directing a return to the doll’s scarier side. The reported goal is to draw on Curse of Chucky and the first 2 Child’s Play films, pulling back on the comedy that became central to later installments.
Curse offers a clue to what that shift could mean. Discussing that film in 2013, Mancini explained that Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky had used deliberately exaggerated murders for comedy. For Curse, he wanted gothic horror and killings that felt more believable: “because I wanted to make it scary again, I wanted his murders to seem more plausible.”
That’s his explanation of the 2013 film. Specific scare sequences, kills and changes to Chucky’s behavior haven’t been announced for the new movie. The reported emphasis is on horror, and Mancini hasn’t announced a campaign against Chucky’s cute pop-culture image or promised to eliminate his humor.
The movie is expected to retain connections to Mancini’s earlier films and the Chucky TV series. It’s separate from the 2019 Child’s Play remake.
A theatrical release would also bring his version back to cinemas after Curse of Chucky (2013) and Cult of Chucky (2017) went directly to video. His last theatrical installment was Seed of Chucky in 2004.
The story was still taking shape in July 2026. At a Creep I.E. panel covered that month, longtime Chucky voice actor Brad Dourif said he’d heard several different pitches and suggested Mancini could take an unexpected direction. His involvement in this particular film hasn’t been formally confirmed, and neither has Jennifer Tilly’s.
The project remains in development, with no announced title, plot, production start or release date.
