With so many popular ’80s entertainment franchises enjoying either revivals or an uninterrupted and long, healthy life in the decades since, one noticeably absent omission has been Gremlins. If for whatever reason you haven’t seen the original 1984 film and its 1990 sequel, here’s a quick recap: They were amazing comedy-horror films about the strange little titular creatures that could be owned as pets, with the caveat that you follow a bunch of rules so they don’t turn into vicious monsters. If you haven’t seen the first one, you can watch it on Prime Video; this Key & Peele sketch should be watched before you embark on the sequel.
Looks like all that’s finally about to change. Fast-forward to 2020, and there’s an animated prequel series in the works and also still talk of a third sequel. Some pretty major news has just come out via Collider, who asked original Gremlins writer Chris Columbus (Home Alone, Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone) what is going on with the third one–and there is reason to rejoice, as it still sounds likely.
“I would love to do it. I wrote a script, so there is an existing script,” said Columbus. “I would still do it the same way–I would do it as tangible puppets, not CGI.”
Columbus added that aside from the pandemic, the only delay is working out “some rights issues.” But if we are hearing about a specific creative vision governing production choices on a potential sequel–it’s a good sign things may hopefully be closer than they have felt over the last 30 years to see more Gremlins. It’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but already something to be thankful for this week.
