Gremlins 3 Greenlit: Chris Columbus and Steven Spielberg Reunite to Unleash the Mogwai Again

Gremlins 3 is finally a real thing, and yes, the old gang is back: Chris Columbus is set to produce and direct it, with Steven Spielberg executive producing through Amblin. After years of starts, stops, and one animated detour, Warner Bros. finally flipped the switch.

Who is steering this monster sleigh

Columbus, who these days is mostly associated with directing Home Alone and the first two Harry Potter movies, originally wrote both Gremlins and The Goonies back in the 80s. Both were Warner Bros. releases, and both had Spielberg involved as executive producer. Now we are back to that exact pairing: Columbus in the driver seat, Spielberg overseeing.

How we got here

• Several years back: Columbus teamed with Disturbia writer Carl Ellsworth on a Gremlins 3 script. It never made it in front of cameras.
• Then: The energy moved to an animated prequel series that landed on the streaming service then called HBO Max.
• Ten months ago: Word leaked that Warner Bros. was cooking up new Gremlins and The Goonies projects, with Columbus involved on both.
• Nine months ago: Potsy Ponciroli was announced as the writer of The Goonies 2, and he said the project was trending the right way.
• A few months ago: Gremlins star Zach Galligan said a new script was in play and hinted it was waiting on Spielberg, adding you could thank the success of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
• Now: Deadline says Gremlins 3 is officially moving forward with Columbus producing and directing, and Spielberg executive producing via Amblin. Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav even announced the greenlight on the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Thursday, which is a very corporate way to confirm a movie about chaos goblins.

"They have come up with a script for Gremlins 3. Warner Bros. is incredibly interested in doing it. Apparently, it is waiting on Mr. Spielberg to read it and improve it, but you can thank the success of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice."

Given today’s news, it sure sounds like Spielberg gave it the thumbs up.

Quick refresher: what is Gremlins again?

The 1984 original, directed by Joe Dante from Columbus’s script, starts with a dad buying a mogwai in a Chinatown shop as a Christmas present. There are three non-negotiable rules: no bright light, no water, and absolutely no food after midnight. Naturally, all three get broken, and the town gets wrecked by a horde of nasty little gremlins on Christmas Eve. It was a hit, and a sequel followed in 1990: Gremlins 2: The New Batch. That sequel went gleefully off the rails in a way that basically parked the franchise for decades.

What about The Goonies 2?

That one is still in the works. Ponciroli is writing and has said it is moving in the right direction. Between that and Gremlins 3, Columbus’s 80s kid-adventure era is getting a serious revival at Warner Bros., with Spielberg once again hovering over both as the big-picture guy.

My read: announcing a gremlins sequel on an earnings call is a funny contrast to the movies themselves, but if it gets Columbus and Spielberg back together with the original troublemakers, I am in. Now let’s see if the new one keeps the Christmas chaos and the original’s mean streak.