Deadline reports that comedian and actor Rick Moranis signed on to appear in Shrunk – Disney’s upcoming sequel/soft reboot of its 1989 science fiction comedy Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Moranis will reprise his performance as a brilliant but clumsy scientist Wayne Szalinski who invents the shrinking ray. Josh Gad (Beauty and the Beast, Pixels) will portray his adult son Nick, who not only became a scientist himself but also accidentally shrunk his children. Movie’s director Joe Johnston (Jumanji, The Rocketeer, Captain America: The First Avenger) will also return.
First released in June 1989, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids became an unexpected hit at the box office. It earned over $220 million worldwide, becoming Disney’s highest-grossing live-action film for the next four years. Three years later came the first sequel Honey, I Blew Up the Kid. Direct-to-video sequel Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves followed in 1997. That same year premiered Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show that aired in syndication for three seasons.
Rick Moranis established his comedic chops in the 1980s on the Canadian sketch show Second City Television. He appeared in movies like Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II, Little Shop of Horrors, Spaceballs, My Blue Heaven, and The Flintstones. In mid-1990, Moranis, whose wife passed away in 1991, took a lengthy break from acting to focus on raising his children. Aside from an occasional voice works in animated TV shows, this will be his first film role in almost twenty years.
