Legacy sequels and reboots of 80s movies and TV shows have been one of the most common types of blockbusters over the past few decades, and another major franchise has just been added to the release calendar. RoboCop, 21 Jump Street, Ghostbusters, The A-Team, The Karate Kid, Footloose, Transformers, G.I. Joe, and tons more have gotten movie versions since the 2010s, and Hollywood is far from stopping. Even in 2026, movies like Masters of the Universe are still cashing in on 80s nostalgia, but this can’t compare to the Titan that is returning in 2027.
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Director Joe Dante was one of the biggest players in 80s film, with him being the visionary behind all kinds of beloved films. Dante worked on projects like The Howling, Twilight Zone: The Movie, and The ‘Burbs, with the decade definitely being the director’s golden era. However, his biggest movie was inarguably Gremlins.
Gremlins 3 Is Finally Happening After 37 Years
Gremlins 3 has been officially announced, with the highly anticipated third film hitting theaters 37 years after the release of 1990’s Gremlins 2: The New Batch. The original Gremlins was a massive hit when it was released in 1984, with it making $212.9 million on a budget of $11 million. The film was a critical hit, popular with audiences, and had tons of cultural influence, with it directly inspiring well-known movies like Critters.
The involvement of Dante, writer Chris Columbus, and executive producer Steven Spielberg made the film a creative powerhouse, combining several of the most popular filmmakers of the era. Plus, the film’s Christmas setting and Gizmo’s marketability made the film a huge hit, with the mogwai still being recognizable to this day. With how big of a hit Gremlins was, Warner Bros. was hungry for a sequel. Dante originally didn’t want to be involved, so the studio moved on without him. However, Dante agreed to return after being promised complete creative control and a $50 million budget, leading to the wild ride that is The New Batch.
Unfortunately, Gremlins 2 was a box office failure. However, Gremlins was still a recognizable franchise, meaning that another swing at the story was inevitable. A third film was first reported on in 2013, with star Zach Galligan stating that the film would be a sequel. Columbus was working on the script for the third film through the mid-to-late 2010s, with him confimring in 2020 that the film would use puppets rather than CGI for the gremlins.
Production on the film went quiet, until on April 11, 2025, Warner Bros. officially confirmed that Gremlins 3 is happening. Columbus is taking over as director of the sequel, with him also cowriting the film with Final Destination Bloodline‘s Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein. Principal photography will start in August 2026, and Gremlins 3 has a release date of November 19, 2027.
Gremlins: The New Batch’s Tone Will Make Gremlins 3 Difficult
Hopefully Gremlins 3 is great, but the existence of Gremlins 2: The New Batch will make this a bit more difficult. The first Gremlins has its funny moments, but it is a relatively dark horror film throughout. Gremlins 2, however, is very different. The sequel is wild, with it being an off-the-walls slapstick comedy starring the Gremlins. The film is set in a high-tech building, has much weirder character deisgns, and features a Gremlins song and dance number.
Gremlins 2 is incredibly popular in the franchise’s fanbase, with this mostly being due to how funny the film is. However, this tone was undoubtedly a big swing, and it probably wouldn’t land with general audiences as well as it does with diehard Gremlins fans. It’s been decades since a Gremlins movie has been released, and Warner Bros. must face the difficult task of attempting to appeal to fans of both movies.
Undoubtedly, Gremlins 3 will take a tone more similar to the original film than the sequel. Columbus didn’t write The New Batch, meaning that his involvement in the third film will probably hearken back to his original movie script. Meanwhile, Joe Dante taking a step back from the project signals that his zany energy probably won’t be present in the film, even if there are humorous moments. Hopefully Gremlins 3 works, but it’ll be interesting to see how Columbus and Warner Bros. deal with this issue.
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