Genre favorite Joe Dante hasn’t directed a movie in a decade. Yet, some of his beloved ‘80s movies have found or are finding new lives in the 21st century. With the second season of the Gremlins animated series now out and word coming last month that The ‘Burbs would be getting the small screen treatment from Peacock with Keke Palmer leading, Joe Dante gave his perspective on the projects and how involved — or distant — he will be.
After Gremlins 2: The New Batch proved to be a bomb, the idea of a third ever seeing direct sunlight fizzled out. But with renewed popularity in the series, it’s no surprise chatter of a threequel popped up. But Joe Dante isn’t quite sure he would be behind the camera — or that it should even happen. “That’s up to the audience. The fact is that it’s too big a property for somebody not to make something. But it’s been difficult for people to wrap their heads around, ‘Exactly how are we going to do this?’ This series is a brilliant answer to that problem because it’s a prequel, and it’s animated, and it’s the perfect next step in the Gremlins saga.”
As for The ‘Burbs, Joe Dante inadvertently hinted that he wanted to be involved in the TV series but insists that any comments he made were more critical than they were taken. “I think my actual comment was, ‘How are they going to make a whole TV series out of that story?’ As opposed to, ‘I want to be the one to do it.’” He added, “Good luck to them. It’s kind a one-off story…It’s always nice when things have a shelf life.”
While we’d be absolutely down for Joe Dante taking to the director’s chair for a Gremlins 3 (he serves as consulting producer on Secrets of the Mogwai / The Wild Batch), the idea of a TV version of The ‘Burbs does seem a bit unnecessary, at least at this point. For it to be a success, it would best serve the project to bring a different twist than what the 1989 movie offered. Then again, Ricky Butler said…
Do you want to see Joe Dante return to directing? What sort of project should it be?