Joe Dante’s 1994 classic Gremlins has always been one of the my favorite Christmas movies. The film is energetic, weird and has a jet black sense of humor, best displayed in Phoebe Cates’ hilarious monologue about why Santa didn’t deliver any presents one Christmas. And now, audiences are going to get to enjoy Gremlins once again on the big screen, and it’ll look better than it ever has before.
Regal has just announced that the movie will be screened from December 5th – December 11th in 4DX. That’s their ‘ultimate experience’ that involves hydraulic chairs and you getting fans, water and haze sprayed on while you watch the movie. It’s kinda silly, but fits a goofy pic like Gremlins perfectly. The film itself has just been remastered for 4K Ultra HD for a home release, too, so I’m presuming that this pristine new copy will look fantastic on the big screen.
But this re-release is probably just to re-familiarize audiences with the franchise, as 2020 will see the premiere of WarnerMedia’s Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai. The ten-episode animated series will fill in the blanks of Gizmo’s story and be set in 1920s Shanghai, showing us how the loveable yet potentially dangerous fluffball wound up being taken care of by a young Sam Wing.
The official show description reads as so:
“Along with a teenage street thief named Elle, Sam and Gizmo take a perilous journey through the Chinese countryside, encountering, and sometimes battling, colorful monsters and spirits from Chinese folklore. On their quest to return Gizmo to his family and uncover a legendary treasure, they are pursued by a power-hungry industrialist and his growing army of evil Gremlins.”
I’m glad that Gremlins is emerging from franchise stasis after so long, but I can’t help but feel that WarnerMedia are even happier they’re going to have something they can sell to the increasingly lucrative Chinese market. The show will premiere on HBO Max, probably during summer 2019. Let’s just hope it does well and ignites interest in a potential Gremlins 3.