Rick Moranis Will Come Out of Retirement For ‘Honey, I Shrunk the Kids’ Sequel
All through the 1980s and ’90s, Rick Moranis was one of the busiest and successful comedy actors in Hollywood. He had key supporting roles in movies like Ghostbusters, Parenthood, and The Flintstones, and headlined titles like Strange Brew, Little Giants, and the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids series — which spawned several sequels and even a Disney Parks attraction. Then, in 1997, Moranis basically vanished from Hollywood completely. His wife, costume designer Ann Belsky, passed away in 1991, and he essentially left the business to be a single dad.
That was more than 20 years ago. Besides a few very sporadic appearances at benefit concerts or in documentaries, he’s basically made nothing since. He was the one member of the original Ghostbusters cast who didn’t turn up in the 2016 reboot. (Although the movie hasn’t come out yet, according to reports he’s not in the new sequel, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, either.) But now, according to Deadline, he’s coming out of retirement in a big way — starring in a new sequel to the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids series simply titled Shrunk.
While there have been rumors that the Shrunk series would return in some form on Disney+, Deadline says this will be a theatrical feature; Moranis has apparently “closed a deal” to appear in the film:
As previously reported, the pic’s original director Joe Johnston will be back with Josh Gad also starring. The movie centers around Gad’s character who is the son of Moranis’ Wayne Szalinski. Son is aspiring to be a great scientist like his father, but accidentally shrinks the kids.
Whether you grew up with the Shrunk series or not, this is big news. Moranis was legitimately a major star for more than a decade, and the way he walked away from the business is almost unheard of. It’ll be exciting to see him again — and even more exciting if Shrunk is the beginning a full-on comeback. Let the Moranissance begin!
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