Zach Galligan, the original Gremlins star, reveals the shocking truth about the film's creation and the fate that nearly befell it. Warner Bros. nearly ditched the massive hit before they realized what they had, but test screenings in California changed their minds.
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 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.
'" COLLIDER Collider · Quiz Collider Exclusive · Horror Survival Quiz Which Horror Villain Do You Have the Best Chance of Surviving? Jason Voorhees · Michael Myers · Freddy Krueger · Pennywise · Chucky Five killers. Five completely different ways to die — if you're not smart enough, fast enough, or self-aware enough to avoid it. Only one of them is the villain your particular set of instincts gives you a fighting chance against.
Eight questions will figure out which one. 🏕️Jason 🔪Michael 💤Freddy 🎈Pennywise 🪆Chucky TEST YOUR SURVIVAL → QUESTION 1 / 8INSTINCT 01 Something feels wrong. You can't explain it — you just know. What do you do?
First instincts are the difference between the survivor and the first act casualty. ALeave immediately. I don't need to understand a threat to respect it. BStay quiet and observe.
If I can see it, I can understand it. If I can understand it, I can avoid it. CStay awake. Whatever this is, I am not going to sleep until I feel safe again.
DConfront it directly. Fear grows in the dark — I'd rather know what I'm dealing with. ECheck everything, trust nothing. The threat might be closer than I think — and smaller.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 2 / 8ENVIRONMENT 02 Where are you most likely to find yourself when things go wrong? Setting is everything in horror. Where you are determines which rules apply. ASomewhere remote — a cabin, a campsite, off the grid and away from people.
BA quiet suburban neighbourhood where nothing ever happens. Except tonight. CIn my own head — the most dangerous place of all, depending on what's already in there. DWherever children are — because something about this place attracts the worst things.
ESomewhere ordinary — a house, a toy store, a place where the last thing you'd expect is a threat. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 3 / 8STRENGTH 03 What is your most reliable survival asset? Every survivor has a quality the villain didn't account for. What's yours?
APhysical fitness — I can run, I can swim, I can outlast something that relies on brute persistence. BSpatial awareness — I always know the exits, the hiding spots, the fastest route out. CPsychological resilience — I've faced my worst fears before. They don't have the same power over me.
DEmotional steadiness — I don't panic. Panic is what gets you caught. EScepticism — I don't underestimate threats because of how they look. Size is irrelevant.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 4 / 8FEAR 04 What kind of fear is hardest for you to fight through? Knowing your weakness is the first step to not dying because of it. AThe unstoppable — something that will not stop, cannot be reasoned with, and is always getting closer. BThe invisible — a threat I can feel but can't locate, watching from somewhere I can't see.
CThe psychological — something that uses my own mind and memories against me. DThe unknowable — something ancient, shapeless, that feeds on the fear itself. EThe mundane — a threat so ordinary-looking that no one will believe me until it's too late.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 5 / 8GROUP 05 You're with a group when things start going wrong. What's your role? Horror movies are brutally clear about who survives group situations and who doesn't. AThe one who says"we need to leave" first — and means it, even when no one listens.
BThe one who stays quiet, watches the others, and figures out the pattern before anyone else does. CThe one who holds the group together when panic sets in — because someone has to. DThe one who asks the questions nobody wants to ask — because ignoring them gets people killed. EThe one who takes the threat seriously when everyone else is laughing it off.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 6 / 8MISTAKE 06 What's the horror movie mistake you're most likely to make? Honest self-assessment is a survival skill. Denial is not. AGoing back for someone — I know I shouldn't, but I can't leave them behind.
BAssuming I'm safe once I've found a hiding spot. That's when it finds me. CFalling asleep when I absolutely cannot afford to. Exhaustion is its own enemy.
DLetting my curiosity override my instincts — I always need to understand what I'm dealing with. EDismissing the threat because of how it looks. That's exactly what it wants.
NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 7 / 8ADVANTAGE 07 What's your best weapon against something that can't be stopped by conventional means? Every horror villain has a weakness. The survivors are always the ones who find it. AThe environment itself — I use the terrain, the water, the geography against it.
BPatience — I wait, I watch, and I strike at the one moment it doesn't expect. CLucidity — if I can stay in control of my own mind, it loses its primary weapon. DCourage — facing it directly, refusing to run, taking away the fear it feeds on. EImprovisation — I use whatever's at hand, however unconventional.
Creativity over brute force. NEXT QUESTION → QUESTION 8 / 8FINAL SCENE 08 It's the final scene. You're the last one standing. How did you make it?
The final survivor always has a reason. What's yours? AI kept moving. I never stopped, never hid for too long, never let it corner me.
BI figured out the pattern before anyone else did — and I used it against the thing following it. CI stayed awake, stayed lucid, and refused to give it the one thing it needed most. DI stopped being afraid of it. And the moment I did, everything changed.
EI took it seriously from the start — and I never once made the mistake of underestimating it. REVEAL MY VILLAIN → Your Survival Odds Have Been Calculated Your Best Chance Is Against… Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.
Camp Crystal Lake · Friday the 13th Jason Voorhees Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit. Haddonfield, Illinois · Halloween Michael Myers Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it's too late for anyone who isn't paying close enough attention.
Elm Street · A Nightmare on Elm Street Freddy Krueger Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised. Derry, Maine · It Pennywise Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.
Chicago · Child's Play Chucky Chucky's greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it's already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ '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. Gremlins Like Follow Followed PG Fantasy Horror Comedy Release Date June 8, 1984 Runtime 106 minutes Director Joe Dante Writers Chris Columbus Producers Michael Finnell Cast See All Sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Gremlins 3 Powered by Expand Collapse
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