Now that we in the U.S. have successfully made it through the Thanksgiving holiday, we can set our sights on getting in some good movie watching in the month of December, as there are many great movies with Christmas settings. There are the family friendly comedies like A CHRISTMAS STORY and CHRISTMAS VACATION, action movies like DIE HARD; LETHAL WEAPON; and ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, and of course holiday horror films like BLACK CHRISTMAS; SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT; INSIDE; the list goes on.
Among the Christmas horror greats is the 1984 classic GREMLINS, which was directed by Joe Dante from a screenplay by Chris Columbus and executive produced by Steven Spielberg.
Over the last couple years, we have watched Warner Bros. slowly start assembling the puzzle pieces to get a new GREMLINS project off the ground. ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER writer Seth Grahame-Smith came on board to produce the film with David Katzenberg and Columbus, GOOSEBUMPS scribe Carl Ellsworth was hired to write the screenplay, Dante confirmed that he hasn't been asked to be involved, and Columbus has said that part of the inspiration behind the idea is seeing how J.J. Abrams' STAR TREK and STAR WARS films have given audiences new adventures in familiar worlds while also playing on nostalgia for old characters.
What we've never heard are details on what type of approach this GREMLINS film is taking to bring the franchise's rampaging little creatures back to the screen. It has always been referred to as either a reboot or a remake (or even a reinvention), but actor Zach Galligan, who starred in the original GREMLINS and 1990's GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH, has now said that the most fitting term for what Columbus and company have in the works is "sequel".
Speaking at a screening of GREMLINS at the Prince Charles Cinema in London, Galligan told the attending crowd:
"It's not going to be a reboot. It will not be a remake in any way, shape, or form. Chris Columbus has come out and said that the first film is very near and dear to his heart and as long as he is alive it will never be remade.
So the only thing they will be, and apparently are going to be doing, is something along the lines of like Jurassic World, where it will be 30 years later."
Galligan went on to say that the film will be referencing the original movie and there will be some returning characters. He isn't sure his character Billy Peltzer will be one of them, but "there is probably a decent chance".
Of all possible options, I would definitely prefer to see a thirty years later GREMLINS sequel over a re-anything.
GREMLINS co-star Phoebe Cates