Zach Galligan opened up to Bleeding Cool about the long-awaited Gremlins threequel and he assured them that there are absolutely no plans for a remake, that the next move will be a proper sequel, and it is still happening.
“I think you can tell what’s happening with Gremlins 3 the same way you could tell with Gremlins 2,” Galligan began. “It’s the same people and they tend to work the same way. There is a huge time gap but it’s Warner Bros,Spielberg and Chris Columbus. Now, Chris Columbus didn’t have anything to do with Gremlins 2 – because by his own admission he didn’t see a franchise. He kind of regrets it I believe, but he was ‘one and done’ I don’t think he cared for Gremlins 2 and the direction some of the characters went in, so he’s kind of wrested control back. Everything I’m quoting is stuff he’s publicly said… There will NEVER be a remake, There will NEVER be a reboot there will only be a SEQUEL”
“He has been aggressively working on a Gremlins 3 that takes place in present day. He tantalizingly says there will be some NEW characters and some OLD characters – I guess in the style of a Force Awakenstype sequel – One thing we know for sure is they have a writer on board. The only insight I can give is the following: There was a 6 year gap between Gremlins and Gremlins 2 most of that time was spent with them writing and rejecting ideas and re-writing. One of the ideas that was rejected was ‘gremlins in Vegas’ they went with that for 18 months and felt it was too expensive. Eventually they came up with the tower idea, where essentially I’m working for Donald Trump our new President! That took six years to happen. Carl Ellsworth, has been apparently working on the script for a year and a half now. If no new names start appearing on the IMDB listing then that means they like the script. If new names start appearing, y’know Kevin Smith appears, it means it’s back in rewrites with a new vision. Warner Bros definitely wants it, Chris Columbus wants to do it because he’d like to undo the Gremlins 2 thing as he wasn’t thrilled with it and Spielberg wants to do it I imagine – because he’s Spielberg – and why wouldn’t he want to do it. Once he’s found the right script he can attach his name and make a ton of money. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”
As Galligan mentioned, Warner Brothers has tapped Carl Ellsworth, the Goosebumps feature film, to pen the screenplay. The original feature was scripted by Columbus and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, with Joe Dante at the helm. We still have no official word on who will direct at this juncture.
Gremlins tells the story of a teenage boy who receives an adorable Mogwai named Gizmo as a gift. Along with the present, he is given three important rules: Do not get him wet, do not feed him after midnight, and do not expose him to bright light. Of course, the rules are broken and Gizmo spawns a colony of relatives that make all kinds of violent mischief for the entire town.
