Under pressure from Universal, screenwriter Don Mancini was asked to begin writing the third film even before the second film was released. Hence, this picture was released only nine months after Child's Play 2 (1990). Mancini has called it his least favorite because he felt he was out of ideas so soon after the second installment.
This was the first film in the series to use computers to aid in Chucky's puppetry - in order to perfect the lip-syncing.
The movie was the center of a tabloid panic in Great Britain, with one newspaper - The Sun - even demanding existing copies be burned. Journalists claimed the film had influenced two 10-year-old boys in their murder of a younger child, two-year-old James Bulger, although it was later determined that neither had actually seen this film.
John Ritter was originally supposed to appear as a security guard at the Good Guy Doll Factory in a sequence where some kids sneak into the factory and discuss the Chucky myth. Ritter later appeared in Bride of Chucky (1998) in a supporting role.
Don Mancini initially wanted to introduce the concept of "multiple Chuckys" in the movie but due to budget constraints, the idea was eventually scrapped. Mancini later used this concept 26 years later for Cult of Chucky (2017).