This Friday sees the release of both Child’s Play and Toy Story 4, two films that just so happen to be about sentient play-things that haunt the dreams of children, kind of. No offense to those behind the former, but Forky is one of the most unsettling characters I’ve ever seen.
Of course, the coincidental release date of these two movies has led to a hilarious marketing campaign for Chucky’s upcoming reboot. In a slew of posters that are slowly infiltrating subway stations around the country, the killer doll has taken to violently breaking toys that look just legally different enough from Slinky Dog, Mr. Potato Head, Woody the Cowboy, and Buzz Lightyear.
Now, we can add a fifth Toy Story character to the list of victims, as the latest one-sheet features Chucky incinerating a plastic toy dinosaur. The fact that there’s an entire fossilized dinosaur skeleton inside the toy is already hilariously off-putting, but the small googly eye in its hollow socket is the icing on the cake.
Aside from directly attacking its competitor, director Lars Klevberg’s Child’s Play reboot has already been steeped in a bit of controversy, as creator Don Mancini has blasted it as a cheap imitation of his classic horror series. That being said, these posters do a pretty solid job at conveying both the absurd humor of the original franchise and its extreme violence.
The 2019 film stars Aubrey Plaza, Brian Tyree Henry and Mark Hamill as the voice of Chucky. Set amongst our modern digitized age, the reboot gives the sinister doll a new tech-oriented origin, much to the chagrin of some longtime fans. At least those left unsatisfied have the 2020 Chucky television series from Mancini himself to look forward to.
Child’s Play opens this Friday, though it’s unlikely to do any serious serious box office damage to Toy Story 4. You can call it payback for the posters.