Now that Marvel Studios 'Ant-Man' has proven popular with fans, there is renewed interest at MGM for Richard Matheson's sci-fi novel "The Shrinking Man", with the studio's intention to reboot the material as a tragic, modern-day dramatic feature:
Published in 1956, "The Shrinking Man" was previously adapted into two motion pictures...
...including "The Incredible Shrinking Man" (1957) and "The Incredible Shrinking Woman" (1981) :
"....while on holiday, 'Scott Carey' is exposed to a cloud of radioactive spray shortly after he accidentally ingests insecticide. The radioactivity acts as a catalyst for the bug spray, causing his body to shrink at a rate of approximately 1/7 of an inch per day. A few weeks later, Carey can no longer deny the truth: not only is he losing weight, he is also shorter than he was and deduces, to his dismay, that his body will continue to shrink.
"The abnormal size decrease of his body initially brings teases and taunting from local youths, then causes friction in his marriage and family life. As the shrinking continues, it begins to threaten Carey's life as well; at seven inches tall, he has a battle with the family cat that drives him outdoors, where he is attacked by a sparrow in his garden. Although he survives on the cheese left over in a mousetrap for a while, his size is eventually reduced to less than half an inch, at which point he is forced to engage in a victorious battle with a black widow spider.
"As Carey continues shrinking, he realizes that his original fear that he would shrink into non-existence is incorrect; that he will continue to shrink, but will not disappear as he originally feared, and utters "If nature existed on endless levels, so also might intelligence..."
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Incredible Shrinking Man"...."
