Warner Bros.’ remake of its eighties monster classic Gremlins has been through the ringer, but its long, arduous path to the big screen has taken a giant leap forward today. Even though January brought word that the movie was effectively dead in the water, Deadline reports that the studio has hired a new writer to punch up the project. Carl Ellsworth (Disturbia, Red Eye) has been contracted to pen this contemporary take on the story, which will likely involve the cute mogwai Gizmo, an irresponsible owner and a batch of malevolent gremlins.
The report goes on to confirm that Chris Columbus and Steven Spielberg will both team up to produce. Previously, we’d heard that Joe Dante, who directed the 1984 movie and its sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch in 1990, was not interested in returning to the director’s chair. As that’s still thought to be the case, Deadline asserts that while Warner would be very interested in locking down Columbus for that role, it’s “not on the cards at the moment.”
Early murmurings about a potential third instalment kicked up in 2013. Back then, the studio were still hedging their bets on whether or not to concoct another sequel and eventually settled on developing a good old-fashioned remake. In addition to Columbus and Spielberg’s return, the last we heard prior to today alluded to Seth Grahame-Smith’s involvement at the keys. Thought to be writing the latest draft, it was in fact he who told EW in January that the remake had stalled. Perhaps his contracted duties had simply ended?
Now that Ellsworth is on board, will Warner gear up to make actual headway on Gremlins? We’ll keep you posted when any new developments arise. Until then, let us know what you make of Ellsworth joining the movie, or better yet, do you think there should there even be a Gremlins remake? Sound off in the comments below.