Next to superheroes, nostalgia fuels the current blockbuster climate. Younger versions of the Ghostbusters are expected to suit up. Richard Donner swears they are doing a Goonies sequel. And if Hollywood gets its way, Gizmo and his evil "step" brothers, the Gremlins, could be returning to theaters.
Buried in its story about the Goonies sequel, AICN casually tosses off in one line that they believe the long-gestating Gremlins reboot is back on the fast track to production. "Jeremy" from the site says:
One film from that period that I still adore, however, is GREMLINS, and I'm told a remake of Joe Dante's film is also moving quickly at WB. Good times."
Who is "Jeremy?" No idea. Who told "Jeremy" this? Also, no clue. So take this bit of information with the usual grain of salt until someone from the studio steps forward to confirm or deny the existence of a Gremlins reboot at Warner Bros.
It was more than a year ago when we first reported that Dante’s Gremlins was a candidate for a reboot. The original film – about a father who gives his son a mystical creature as a Christmas gift, only to have things go terribly wrong – was entertainingly creepy, with plenty of black humor laced throughout. But the premise could use a technological polish. Imagine how cute little Gizmo could be with the right CGI, or a motion-capture performance?
Ironically, between Goonies and Gremlins, we could be looking at back-to-back Corey Feldman cameos. Let’s get a Lost Boys reboot in the pipeline, and solidify the trifecta of cinematic Feldman memories.
Dante’s name has been popular, as of late. Paramount also revealed plans to revive one of his former films, Explorers, with a fresh-faced cast. I wish that we had more to go on beyond the one line of reporting by AICN. We’ve reached out to the studio to see what they can tell us. We’ll report what we hear. While we wait, there’s a movie making the rounds that wears its Gremlins influence on its sleeve. Titled Cooties, the cult horror stars Elijah Wood, Alison Pill and Rainn Wilson as teachers locked in a school with feral children who have been infected with a rare virus. It’s not Gremlins beat for beat, but it shares Dante’s sense of humor and horror. Check it out while you wait for news on the new Gremlins, if anything ever comes of it.
