Jeremy here...
I know, Giz. I'm bummed about the GREMLINS reboot, too. I mean, I know Joe Dante's brilliant films aren't going anywhere, but the notion that a new generation will get introduced to a counterfeit Gizmo and Stripe... that just sucks. But everything is grist for the remake mill, so we'll just have to accept that this Doctor Catheter-spawned abomination is going to exist.
Not to dredge up bad memories, Giz, but your deadbeat dad Chris Columbus went on the record about the GREMLINS remake with Slashfilm, and explained his rationale for getting involved this time out (after passing on GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH).
I am involved. Initially I remember back in ’84-’85 when they approached me and said, do you wanna write the sequel and I said, this is before the obsession with franchises. So my feeling was no. We’ve told the story, that was that’s 1980’s thinking. And then suddenly all these years later, we were approached with an idea that really sounded like an interesting version. It’s not a remake of the movie at all. It’s a, it’s just a reinvention of it.
I don't know, Giz. Columbus, Steven Spielberg and Warner Bros have been very hot to remake GREMLINS for years, listening to pitches from just about every young-ish screenwriter in town, and Carl Ellsworth (RED DAWN remake, LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT remake and RED EYE) is the guy who passed the audition. Later in the interview, he cites J.J. Abrams's take on STAR TREK as an inspiration for their "reboot", but I seriously doubt they'll bring on Chris Walas (your true father, in my opinion) or Rick Baker to work their creature-creation wizardry - in which case, what's the point?
There's more to read at Slashfilm if you're interested, buddy, but I don't want you to get more down in the dumps than you already are. How 'bout you sing me a little song, just like old times.
