The “Gremlins” franchise is coming back. A new “Gremlins” movie written and directed by Chris Columbus will be released in theaters on Nov. 19, 2027, Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav announced on the company’s earnings call on Thursday. Steven Spielberg will return to executive produce.
Columbus is writing the script alongside “Final Destination: Bloodlines” filmmakers Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein.
Kristie Macosko Krieger and Holly Bario are producing for Amblin Entertainment alongside 26th Street Pictures’ Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe.
Columbus originated the “Gremlins” franchise by writing the script for the original film at the beginning of his career, before he became the blockbuster director behind “Home Alone,” “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and “Mrs. Doubtfire.”
“Gremlins 3” has been rumored for years, with Columbus saying in 2020 that he’d already written a script for a further sequel and was eager to direct. “I would still do it the same way – I would do it as tangible puppets, not CGI,” he told Collider in 2020. “We had one stop-motion scene in the first ‘Gremlins,’ but I don’t think I’d use much CGI in ‘Gremlins 3.’”
Joe Dante directed 1984’s “Gremlins” for Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, launching a dark comedy franchise with the story of mischievous creatures who take over a small town during Christmas. The movie was so violent that it spurred the creation of the PG-13 rating.
Dante’s “Gremlins 2: The New Batch,” arguably the superior film, came in 1990 and served as a satirical spin on capitalist culture as the creatures take over a corporation’s skyscraper and its many floors.
Warner Bros. launched an animated prequel series, “Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai,” in 2023.
Columbus most recently directed the Netflix murder mystery “The Thursday Murder Club,” which was released in August.
