Let's just admit it—waiting for a new Gremlins film is the cinematic equivalent of staring at a microwave, urging it to hurry up. Thirty-five years. Thirty-five! And this isn't just the nostalgia talking (though, believe me, as someone who's haunted the halls of Sundance and Cannes longer than some genre bloggers have been alive, the nostalgia is thick as New York summer humidity). There's a certain, almost unholy magic to watching grotesque little monsters upend the “order” of the world—both onscreen, and honestly, sometimes off it too.
Anyway. Here's what's actually happening, minus any of the rumor mill rot. At this year's Comic Con Manchester—yes, the same one where Michael Keaton's Beetlejuice cackle all but echoed in the corridors—Zach Galligan (Billy himself, as if you'd forgotten) confirmed what fans have been hoping and studios have been dodging for decades:
“After 35 years, they've come up with a script. Warner Bros. is incredibly interested in doing it,”
he told a sea of eager faces (and more than a few Mogwai plushies).
Here's the twist, if you call it that. Everything is on pause. Why? Because the script, a hot property by any definition, has to get past Steven Spielberg himself. The man who—let's face it—basically invented '80s genre cinema as Americans understand it. Spielberg's approval isn't just some archaic ritual; it's the difference between “reboot disaster” and “event status.” Maybe he'll direct. Maybe just produce. Or, knowing Spielberg, maybe he'll rewrite the whole thing in a fit of inspiration and surprise us all. But right now:
No Spielberg, no Gremlins 3. Simple as that.
The Festival Mood—And Why Now?
Timing, as anyone who's ever tried to catch a genre film premiere at TIFF or Berlin will tell you, is everything. This current Gremlins fever isn't arbitrary. It's piggybacking on a peculiar trend: studios finally starting to respect (or, more likely, capitalize on) fan-driven sequels after decades of scuttled reboots and abandoned scripts. The “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” sequel raked in a gobsmacking $451.9 million worldwide—yes, you read that right—bringing Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O'Hara back from their respective Burton-world exiles.
Is it art? Maybe. Is it a signal? Absolutely. Warner Bros. has finally stopped pretending they don't know how valuable these legacy properties are—especially after Beetlejuice's box office haul and relatively positive critical buzz. They even publicly floated their desire to reboot Gremlins earlier this year, as if the fandom wouldn't notice. But we always notice.
Who's Holding the Pen…and the Power?
Let's talk brass tacks—Christopher Columbus, the guy who wrote both the original Gremlins and The Goonies (and, yes, has enchanted and traumatized just about everyone's childhood in equal measure) is officially attached to the new script. Think about it. There's almost pathological symmetry—Columbus writing, Spielberg overseeing, and the ever-mischievous Joe Dante potentially waiting in the wings to direct. Dante's directed both previous Gremlins films, and his recent run on the animated “Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai” proved the old dog still knows the best tricks.
Dante once said,
“The Gremlins universe is like a box of fireworks—give it the right spark and you never know what you'll get.”
He's not wrong. And his HBO Max animated prequel wasn't just critically adored (racking up a perfect 100% Tomatometer with an 84% audience score); it reinvigorated the franchise without resorting to pandering. “Secrets of the Mogwai” even got fast-tracked for a second season, “Gremlins: The Wild Batch,” airing on HBO Max—with the first half unleashed October 3, 2024, and the second batch dropping April 10, 2025.
The Big Question—Is Spielberg In, Or Out?
Here's the thing—everyone in the business has a Spielberg story. Mine involves a disastrously overlong Cannes press line, three bottles of tonic, and a single, miraculous handshake. But right now, the only story that matters is whether Spielberg says “go.” Zach Galligan laid it flat: “We're all waiting on Steven.” No exec meddling, no algorithm can fake that level of auteur weight.
If—when—Spielberg signs off, all signs point to production starting sometime in late 2026, which pushes a potential Gremlins 3 release into 2027 territory. And unless New York floods again, or LA is beset by something even Gremlins wouldn't attempt (not ruling it out), this will be an event—one of those moments genre fans mark their calendars for, and then argue about for the next decade.
If I'm being candid? I want it. But only with the original's razor-edged sense of mischief. No soft reboots. No “kinder, gentler” Gremlins. Give us chaos. Give us Dante. Give us something Spielberg himself would bother to approve.
Tell Me I'm Wrong
Let's end messy. Will Spielberg greenlight it? Will Columbus and Dante create '80s magic twice in one lifetime, or just a nostalgia trap for the streaming era? I'll be camping out for updates—I do this job so you don't have to, after all—but for now? All we know: Gremlins 3 has a script. The fate of Gizmo and crew is in the hands of Hollywood's most unpredictable legend. And we all wait, microwave-style, for something to finally go “ding.”
So, sound off: Which legacy horror-comedy should get resurrected next? Have a festival rumor to spill? Love or hate the idea of Gremlins rampaging through modern-day Manhattan? Drop your (hopefully gremlin-free) thoughts below.
