IGN recently spoke with my new Twitter BFF Joe Dante to talk about his new film The Hole and managed to sneak in a few questions about the man’s most famous series.
The surprising news? Dante wouldn’t want to do a Gremlins 3. When asked if he would be involved, he replied: “I don’t think so. I think it’s probably time for me to let somebody new take a shot at it. I did Gremlins 2, which was my deconstruction of Gremlins, and I don’t want to do a deconstruction of both of them.”
The man has a point. If you haven’t seen it in a while, Gremlins 2 has aged beautifully. It’s a perfect satire of the first film and the genre in general, and holds up much stronger than the original film… probably because it utterly eviscerates it, making fun of every single flaw far better than anyone else could have. Lincoln’s birthday, anyone?
Of course, this is all moot, as there aren’t any immediate plans to make Gremlins 3 anyway.
“There are no plans in the offing to do another Gremlins movie” he revealed. “I think that because of the CGI situation and the fact that you can now do anything when you make a movie… the original films were limited by the scope of what we could do technically, and that’s what the movies became about. Now it’s so wide-open, you can almost do anything, and I don’t think they’ve got a handle on what kind of movie it would be.”
It is a stumper. Do you try to remake the original and do it scary again, or do another spoof? How can you plan to top either, especially using CGI, if that’s the case? Who would be the man to carry the torch this time?
Sadly, this might be the closest we get to a new Gremlins film in a long time.
15 comments
My ears might be deceiving me but, the narration at the end sounds like it's done by the fella who played Wormtail.
According to Don Murphy, Joe dante isn't fit to direct traffic at the WB lot. If some film exec offers gremlins 3 to Joe, he should get down on his knees and slobber like the best of them. Hollywood 101.
"Did you try turning it off then on again?" – Cute, but yeah, time for new hands. If Don't be afraid of the Dark delivers the goods, there's always Troy Nixey and GDT. If they can figure out what the "forgotten rule" is they could deliver some genuine new shocks and delights. They should start pre-credits with the original "Gremilns on the Bomber" story before flipping to the modern day though.
Considering "The Hole", Dante's new movie, has gotten across-the-board positive reviews, I think Don Murphy can so fuck himself.
#4 Clearly, the producer of Double Dragon knows what he's talking about.
Uh…Gremlins 2 is a piece of shit. It hasn't aged beautifully and you should have your tongue removed for uttering such a silly idea. It hasn't held up better than the first movie that is idiotic… Just go fuck yourself with your bullshit.
Nerds like the second one better, regular people like the first, which has aged just fine, it's a regular classic styled story that could be made today with few changes.
Well, it's a good thing that Don Murphy is a giant piece of shit otherwise an opinion like that might matter.
I love the Gremlins movies and would absolutely embrace a new one. Really, this is one '80s franchise that I can see returning with its glory intact. Bring that shit on.
I love both the movies, the sequel being one of the best sequels ever. Fact. A Gremlins 3…hmmm….let's have them go up against the Critters – we can;t go back to scary so let's have a Bride of Chucky type film that has fun. But I don't wanna see a single CG Gremlin. Good grief no.
It's a bullshit answer, but I love them both for what they are. But I love Gremlins more. The spoof is fun, but that's all it is. It lacks charm, atmosphere and genuine emotion of the first. Yes, the Santa scene deserved a spoofing (much as the Vicki in the Batcave scene needed to be mocked in Batman Returns), but that's a relatively small flaw in a fabulous film.
That said, I liked Dante's camerawork in the sequel better.
As for a third film… I'd rather see them go back to the first in tone- mix of laughs and scares and more gore than you might expect.
Both movies are fantastic, but the first is the favorite child. Nothing is better than the scene where mom takes out three of the gremlins by herself, or the scene in the department store where Billy is being attacked with buzzsaws.
Gremlins ranks high on my all-time favorite comedies, Christmas, and horror movies.
What's this Don Murphy business then? Anyone got a link to the full story?
Gremlins 3: Gremlins vs. Raving Rabbids.
On second thought, I've got nothing.
CGI wouldn't work at all. Part of the appeal was that they were like The Muppets on meth. Kids could see themselves tangiably playing with them, before they bit their fingers off.
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