Entertainment

One of the Biggest ’80s Horror Hits Was Almost Dead Before It Ever Hit Theaters

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2 hours ago

7 June 2026

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Where would the world be without Gremlins? The classic horror-comedy creature feature directed by Joe Dante and penned by Chris Columbus immediately took the world by storm when it was released in 1984, raking in over $212 million globally on an $11 million budget and spawning an entire franchise that spans a sequel, an upcoming legacy follow-up, the animated Secrets of the Mogwai prequel series, books, and more. Even now, there are plenty of people who still know who Gizmo is and that you never feed a Mogwai after midnight, and the original film’s impact has been felt in everything from Ghoulies to Stranger Things. Surprisingly, though, there was actually a Sliding Doors moment where Warner Bros. nearly ditched the massive hit before they even realized what they had.

During a panel at the Indiana Comic Convention attended by Collider’s Maggie Lovitt, original Gremlins star Zach Galligan reflected on his time with the franchise and the many facts of its creation that still amaze him. “One of the crazy things about Gremlins is, I’m still finding out stuff about the movie 40 years later that I just didn’t know,” he said, and that includes the fate that nearly befell the film. He recalled that Warner Bros. didn’t see Dante and Columbus’ vision at all when it was first presented. A few of the darker moments, in particular, like Kate’s (Phoebe Cates) story about how her father died, had them hesitant that it would resonate with general audiences. In their eyes, this had more of the feel of an odd, indie horror project rather than a multi-million-dollar hit.

However, what ultimately changed their minds was a pair of test screenings in California. It’s not altogether unusual for high marks with test audiences to change a studio’s mind on a project — recent examples include other horror hits like Smile and Evil Dead Rise, which both started as streaming titles before getting the bump to theaters — but these particular results were so off the charts that it required a complete re-evaluation of what Gremlins was and could be.

“One of the things I put in the book was the fact that Warner Brothers really was not high on Gremlins at all. They just thought it was a kind of… they didn’t get it. And when they saw the rushes of Phoebe Cates’ dead dad and the Santa Claus in the chimney thing, they were just like, ‘This is weird and sick and gross and never gonna fly.’ And apparently, according to Mike Fennel, the producer, they did one screening in Sacramento and the audience response was just absolutely psychotic. So they did another one down in San Diego. Obviously, it was gonna be sort of California-based because Warner Brothers is in Los Angeles or Burbank. And they start getting these test scores that were so off the charts that they had to suddenly go, ‘Oh my God, maybe we have something here.’”

‘Gremlins’ Built a Legendary Marketing Campaign From the Ground Up in Record Time

Such overwhelming fervor for the film created a brand-new problem for Warner Bros. Their lack of belief in Gremlins left them with little in terms of a marketing campaign or merchandise. Galligan recalled that, according to Fennel, there was hardly anything in place three months out from the film’s release date. Plans had to be made and executed fast to turn Gizmo into a household name and get everyone crazy for the Christmas Eve carnage the Mogwai would bring. What followed was an all-out sprint to turn Gremlins into a proper event and cement Dante’s creature feature as an icon of the 80s.

“And so there was literally, he said, March 1st — remember, the movie’s coming out on June 8th — there was no merchandising in place whatsoever. And by April 15th, in six weeks, they had suddenly… there was a mad rush, and you had the Hardee’s records, the five records that tell the story, and the Gremlin storybook, and the lunchbox, and then this, and the trading cards, and then that, and the Gizmos, and the peanut butter gremlin cereal that was terrible, and all of this stuff, it all just came exploding out because of these two screenings. They thought it was dead in the water. They thought they had nothing, and then suddenly they just put all of this marketing and stuff into a teaser trailer. So Gremlins was almost the movie that was almost really a throwaway.”

Although they haven’t been in theaters with a new installment since the less well-received Gremlins 2: The New Batch in 1990, the future of Gremlins is quite bright right now. Warner Bros. officially moved to revive the soft and furry magical creatures last year by announcing Gremlins 3 would be heading to theaters on November 19, 2027. Dante won’t be back at the helm, but the spirit of the franchise will live on through the returning Columbus, who now sits in the director’s chair, and Stephen Spielberg, who will again executive produce. The red-hot Final Destination Bloodlines duo Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein were also tapped to write the legacy sequel, though any plot details or cast remain under wraps at this time.

Gremlins can currently be streamed for free on Pluto TV. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on the future of the franchise as work continues on the third film.