A new sequel to Gremlins is in the works, after the franchise lay dormant for many years. The original film, a sleeper hit in 1984, spawned a chaotic comedy sequel and, more recently, a prequel animated series. However, there’s one thing that will never happen to the franchise: a reboot. Star Zach Galligan recently discussed the situation at a panel at the Indiana Comic Convention.
While studios have been happy to reach into their libraries of intellectual property for a slew of remakes and reboots, Galligan, who played Billy in both Gremlins and Gremlins 2: The New Batch, isn’t the biggest fan of them and admits that he feels “a certain amount of ownership” towards the original film. While he doesn’t actually own the franchise, neither does Warner Bros, the studio that released it. That’s in the hands of Steven Spielberg, who produced the original film, and Chris Columbus, who wrote it. And according to Galligan, as long as those two are still around, you will never see a Gremlins reboot. He told the audience, where Collider’s Maggie Lovitt was in attendance at the Indiana Comic Convention:
“Mr. Spielberg owns it, Amblin owns it, and I believe Mr. Columbus also has some kind of ownership ability. At least, he has the ability to say no to a reboot, and he has said — and is involved in Gremlins 3, which certainly solidifies this — that as long as he is alive, there won’t be a Gremlins reboot, he has the right to say no.”
He also related Spielberg’s general antipathy to sequels and reboots, having eschewed seeing Jaws 2 for decades because, “guys, we blew up the shark.” Galligan didn’t want to tar all remakes with the same brush, though, as he did note that he enjoyed Zack Snyder‘sDawn of the Dead, which he said was “pretty good.”
Collider Exclusive · Horror Survival Quiz Which Horror Villain Do You Have the Best Chance of Surviving? Jason Voorhees · Michael Myers · Freddy Krueger · Pennywise · Chucky
Five killers. Five completely different ways to die — if you’re not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against. Eight questions will figure out which one.
🏕️Jason
🔪Michael
💤Freddy
🎈Pennywise
🪆Chucky
01
Something feels wrong. You can’t explain it — you just know. What do you do? First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act casualty.
02
Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong? Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply.
03
What is your most reliable survival asset? Every survivor has a quality the villain didn’t account for. What’s yours?
04
What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through? Knowing your weakness is the first step to not dying because of it.
05
You’re with a group when things start going wrong. What’s your role? Horror movies are brutally clear about who survives group situations and who doesn’t.
06
What’s the horror movie mistake you’re most likely to make? Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not.
07
What’s your best weapon against something that can’t be stopped by conventional means? Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it.
08
It’s the final scene. You’re the last one standing. How did you make it? The final survivor always has a reason. What’s yours?
Your Survival Odds Have Been Calculated Your Best Chance Is Against…
Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.
Camp Crystal Lake · Friday the 13th
Jason Voorhees
Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.
He moves in straight lines toward his target. He doesn’t strategise, doesn’t adapt, doesn’t outsmart. He simply pursues.
Your ability to keep moving, use the environment, and resist the panic that freezes most victims gives you a genuine edge.
The Crystal Lake survivors were always the ones who stopped running in circles and started thinking about terrain, water, and distance.
You think like that. Which means Jason, for all his indestructibility, would face someone who simply refused to be where he expected.
Haddonfield, Illinois · Halloween
Michael Myers
Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it’s too late for anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention.
But you are paying attention. You notice the shape in the window, the car parked slightly wrong, the silence where there should be sound.
Michael’s power lies in the invisibility of ordinary suburbia — the fact that nothing ever looks wrong until it already is.
Your spatial awareness and instinct to map every room, every exit, and every shadow before you need them is precisely the quality Laurie Strode had.
You are not a victim waiting to happen. You are someone who already suspects something is wrong — and acts on it.
Elm Street · A Nightmare on Elm Street
Freddy Krueger
Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.
You are harder to destabilise than most. You’ve faced uncomfortable truths about yourself and you haven’t looked away.
The survivors on Elm Street were always the ones who understood what was happening and chose to face it rather than flee from it.
Freddy’s greatest weakness is that his power evaporates in the presence of someone who refuses to give him the fear he feeds on.
Your psychological resilience — the ability to stay grounded when reality itself becomes unreliable — is exactly the quality that keeps you alive here.
Derry, Maine · It
Pennywise
Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.
The Losers Club didn’t survive because they were braver than everyone else. They survived because they faced their fears together, and faced them honestly.
You ask the questions others avoid. You look directly at what frightens you rather than turning away.
That directness — the refusal to let fear fester in the dark — is Pennywise’s worst nightmare.
It chose the wrong target when it chose you. You are exactly the kind of person whose fear tastes like nothing at all.
Chicago · Child’s Play
Chucky
Chucky’s greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it’s already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.
You don’t have that gap. You take threats seriously regardless of how they present — and you never make the mistake of underestimating something because of its size or appearance.
Chucky relies on surprise, on the delay between recognition and response. You close that delay faster than almost anyone.
Your instinct to treat every unfamiliar thing with appropriate scepticism — rather than dismissing it because it seems absurd — is the exact quality that keeps you breathing.
Against Chucky, not laughing is already winning. You are very good at not laughing.
What Do We Know About ‘Gremlins 3’?
Columbus broke out with his script for Gremlins, which was purchased by Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment and made him an in-demand screenwriter and, later, director. He’s returning to the franchise for the first time in over four decades to both write and direct Gremlins 3, which will be released by Warner Bros. Columbus is co-writing the film with Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein, the duo who recently revived the Final Destination franchise with Bloodlines. The film is currently in pre-production and will be filmed later this year; it is set to be released on November 27, 2027.
Directed by Joe Dante, the original Gremlins grossed a massive $212 million USD on a scant $11 million budget; the film’s blend of black humor with holiday cheer and state-of-the-art animatronics proved to be a winner at the box office. However, its violence was a little too extreme for some viewers, and helped spur the creation of the PG-13 rating.
Gremlins 3 is in development. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
