Hey Arcaders!

I love the Gremlins movies. The wonder and horror of the first film was a part of the ratings change in 1984 (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom helped as well).  That lead into the amazing sequel- that PARODIES the first! Gremlins 2- The New Batch was the perfect follow up to a movie that Joe Dante didn’t want to copy- so he made fun of it instead. That’s why Gremlins 2- The New Batch is still held as one of the best sequels in history. Move ahead almost three decades, and we have had rumblings about a new Gremlins remake/prequel/sequel/re-imagining have been rumored for a few years now. But last week, the HBO Max media platform announced that we are getting a animated prequel series- Gremlins- Secrets of the Mogwai.  We have a synopsis from the Amblin website- 

Set in 1920s Shanghai, the series will tell the story of how 10-year-old Sam Wing (future shop owner Mr. Wing in the 1984 movie) met the young Mogwai called Gizmo. 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.

Gremlins Secrets of the Mogwai is produced by Amblin Television in association with Warner Bros. Animation. The series is being written by Tze Chun and executive produced by Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey (The Americans, and the Animaniacs and Amazing Stories revivals) and Sam Register (the upcoming Animaniacs revival) with Chun and Brendan Hay serving as co-executive producers. Dan Krall will serve as supervising producer. The series will premiere on HBO Max in 2021.

I have mixed feelings about this. I wanted to see a Gremlins animated show back in the 80’s- you know, a Hanna–Barbera or Filmation 1/2 hour series that was relevant to the source material of the time. I like the prequel aspect- but it sounds like it will have some environmental tones in it- I hope it isn’t too preachy, and will give us a look at the Gremlins mythos we haven’t seen yet, but give us the action and scares the movies gave us. Perhaps giving us a lead in to a new film. Animation should be great- Warner Bros. Animation has given us some of the best cartoons and animated feature films over the last 30 years.

So- what do you think? Are you up for a Gremlins animated series? Or do you think too much time has gone by to care about the Gremlins stories to be relevant today? We will keep and eye on this project and post more info as it is released. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Keep Playin’ Like It’s 1981!