Between live-action versions of animated classics, like Beauty & the Beast and brand new sequels to well loved films from decades ago, like Mary Poppins Returns, Disney has certainly found new success in established franchises. It was little shock when Disney announced plans for new versions of Fox properties Home Alone and Cheaper By the Dozen for Disney+, and so the report that a theatrical reboot of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, might be on the way, certainly didn't feel out of place.
However, the most recent bit of news on that front, a DisInsider report that Rick Moranis was in talks to star in the upcoming project was a bit surprising. While Rick Moranis has never retired from acting entirely, he has become very picky when it comes to his roles, and hasn't taken recent opportunities to revisit his popular films, making this idea worth following up on. When CinemaBlend reached out to Disney for comment on the report, we were told that nothing had been announced, and they have not heard of any conversations between Rick Moranis and the studio.
While certainly, this is not a blanket denial that this absolutely isn't happening, it's actually a stronger response than you usually get when you ask for comment on something that a studio doesn't want to talk about yet. In those cases you usually just get a refusal to comment on rumors.
Last year it was reported that a reboot/sequel for Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, tentatively titled Shrunk, was in the works at Disney and could potentially star Josh Gad as the adult son of Rick Moranis' character from the original trilogy, Wayne Szalinsky. The original concept seemed designed to not require Rick Moranis to return, which wasn't shocking, since in the last 20+ years, he has mostly limited his performing to voice work, and a fairly small amount of that.
Moranis turned down a cameo in the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot and the word is he won't be appearing alongside his cast mates in the forthcoming Ghostbusters: Afterlife either. At the time of the reboot, Moranis made it clear he wasn't interested in going to all the effort required for a simple cameo simply because he'd made a movie decades before.
At the same time, based on the report about this new project, the plan wouldn't be for a simple cameo, so maybe a more substantial role would be something Rick Moranis would be more interested in tackling. The actor also still likely has a good working relationship with Disney. A disproportionate amount of the screen work that the actor has done in the last 20 years has surrounded Brother Bear, the animated Disney movie in which he voiced a moose. One assumes if Disney did call, he would at least entertain the idea.
While it seems less likely that Rick Moranis will actually be returning for the new Honey, I Shrunk the Kids project, it's still technically possible. And either way the project itself seems likely to move forward.
