Chris Columbus, screenwriter of the original film, then director notably of Home Alone and Mrs. Doubtfire, will produce and direct this new installment. The screenplay is by Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein, the duo behind Final Destination: Bloodlines.
Mind the baby
Released in 1984, the first Gremlins delightfully blended black comedy and horror. The film was a huge success, grossing $151 million at the U.S. box office on a budget of only $11 million.
Its sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, released in 1990, pushed comedy even further and went so far as to satirize some of the first film’s conventions. It grossed only $41 million at the box office, but it still has many admirers today.
Steven Spielberg once again executive producer of a Gremlins film
Chris Columbus, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Holly Bario, Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe will handle production, while Steven Spielberg will once again be executive producer through Amblin Entertainment.
All that remains now is to keep our fingers crossed that this sequel is not merely opportunistic and mercenary, but that it truly brings something to the franchise, or even to cinema as a whole. Hope keeps us going. And if the God of cinema could hear us, we promise, we’ll never feed anyone again after midnight…