It’s no secret that Hollywood has been going back to the well of successful franchises a lot lately. Remakes of ‘Carrie’, ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’, ‘Weird Science’, ‘Poltergeist’, ‘Robocop’, and more are all at various points of development at this point and they’re all looking for the same success of the recent ‘Evil Dead’ reboot or even Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, which essentially rebooted Bruce Wayne’s cinematic saga. Now, the latest film being talked about for the remake treatment is yet another beloved 1980s staple.
According to Bloody Disgusting, ‘Dark Shadows’ and ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’ writer Seth Grahame-Smith and ‘The Hard Times of RJ Berger’ executive producer David Katzenberg have been tapped to produce a reboot of Joe Dante’s classic horror-comedy ‘Gremlins’ for Warner Bros. Though negotiations between WB & Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment have been active before, they appear to be further than ever since the film is “officially moving ahead’. Now that they’ve acquired producers, the studio is in search of a director.
As for the writer, Grahame-Smith is rumored to be writing the new take on the 1984 film, but those reports have been unconfirmed. Recently, he finished a draft of the studio’s sequel to ‘Beetlejuice’, so he has experience with revisiting franchises that might just be better off left alone.
While I am a big fan of Gizmo and the gremlins (despite being afraid of them when I was much younger), I’d rather rewatch the original again instead of seeing another potentially off-putting remake. Of course, there is the off chance that this remake could be good and it would help introduce a whole new generation to the beloved characters, but the chances of that happening are very slim. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t risk it, but knowing that Hollywood chases the cash cow, we’re bound to see this come to light one day. But not sunlight, since that’ll kill it.
How do you feel about a ‘Gremlins’ remake picking up steam at Warner Bros.? Are you prepared for another movie with an onslaught of CG characters? Would you feel better about it if they used puppets again? Voice your grievances in the comments below.