Reboots and remakes have become such a regular part of our culture nowadays that it’s tough to even muster anger or frustration when one comes along that’s particularly irritating. If you can think of a popular film that you love and hold dear, odds are that’s going to be mined for a reboot or remake at some point. That’s just the nature of the game. So when we learned that a new iteration ofGremlinswas in the works, it didn’t really come as too distressing news.
With theGremlinsredo, we at least know there’s some semblance of continuity with the original asSteven SpielbergandGremlinswriterChris Columbusare producing the new picture.Seth Grahame-Smithwas initially hired to pen a scriptthat eventually stalled, then this April we learned thatDisturbiascribeCarl Ellsworthwas coming aboard to take a stab at it. Now franchise starZach Galliganhas provided an update on the project byspeaking at a Q&Afollowing a screening at London’s Prince Charles Cinema (via/Film), saying he hears the new film be taking a cue from the biggest movie of 2015:
“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 likeJurassic World, where it will be 30 years later.”
That’s both similar and a bit different from what Columbus told us earlier this year, when he hinted that the new film would utilize some of the same characters:
“It is real. I am involved. When I finishedGremlins, and the firstGremlinswas released, I was asked to write the sequel, and said there was no place else to go. Now this was before the pre-crazy-franchise-era of Hollywood where everything is a franchise. So obviously a long 30 years has passed, and I thought, “Okay, we can do this. We can actually find a way not to remake the first movie, but to take those characters and do something interesting.”
I realized, not from theStar Warsphase, but from J.J. [Abrams’] other movies, when he didStar Trek, he has a sense of taking that short of sense of nostalgia we all want and bringing it forward like he brought Leonard Nimoy into the firstStar Trek. And that to me was why we connected to that and it was painfully obvious when we saw theStar Warstrailer recently that when you saw Han Solo and Chewbacca, we all had tears in our eyes, because we want that feeling again.
So I thought, okay, it’s cool. If we can pull it off—if we can create that feeling but deliver something new to the audience, then maybe we can do a really terrificGremlinsreboot.”
It’s possible Galligan is talking about the take that Grahame-Smith developed, or maybe the current iteration ofGremlins 3does move in a new direction but with a small piece of connective tissue to the originals a la Nimoy inStar Trek(ie. Maybe Galligan shows up to warn the new folks of the dangers of Gremlins).
Whatever the case, I’m kind of curious to see how this comes together. I actually think directorJoe Dante’ssatirical follow-upGremlins 2: The New Batchis a better film than the originalGremlins, so I don’t have too intense a connection to this franchise. What do you think, folks? With the inevitable newGremlinsmovie, would you rather see a straight-up reboot or a rebootquel likeJurassic World, that acknowledges the events of the first two movies? Sound off in the comments below.
