For many years, there's been talk of a GREMLINS reboot/remake, and there finally seems to be some real progress being made as earlier this year we heard that the project was being fast-tracked at Warner Bros. with ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER writer Seth Grahame-Smith reportedly tapped to produce the long-gestating film. Now The Tracking Board has learned that the original 1984 classic films writer, Chris Columbus, has joined the production as one of the producers, alongside Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg. Not only that, but Steven Spielberg is also said to be involved in some capacity.
The reports of Columbus' involvement is exciting news enough, but SlashFilm has learned that the upcoming project isn't a dreaded remake, but rather a sequel-style reboot set 30 years after the original. Could this mean we'll see some returning characters from the original films?
When asked about a new GREMLINS a few years back, Columbus acknowledged that ”it would be fun to go back and revisit,” but expressed some reservations, stating…
I think it’s impossible to recreate in a CGI environment. I think it will inevitably lose some of its charm. Those are edgy Muppets in a sense and you don’t want to lose that sense of anarchy that those gremlins had, because behind the scenes are 25 puppeteers making them to come to life.
Hopefully Columbus' involvement will keep the creature effects more practical instead of relying on CGI to create the titular GREMLINS.
In Joe Dante’s 1984 film, a boy (Zach Galligan) inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town. The film spawned a sequel, the 1990 GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH, in which Gremlins take total control over the building of a media mogul. The two films have grossed more than $190M worldwide.
We'll be keeping a close eye on GREMLINS 3 (or whatever it'll be called) so keep checking back for more!