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Gremlins 3 has been a source of speculation and fevered anticipation ever since sequel The New Batch hit screens in 1990. But according to the original film's screenwriter, Chris Columbus, the long-rumoured threequel is still undergoing a post-midnight-snack-style gestation process.
Speaking to GamesRadar+ for the release of his latest movie, The Thursday Murder Club, Columbus clarified recent claims that the latest draft of Gremlins 3 needs little more than producer Steven Spielberg's approval. "There's a bunch of scripts for Gremlins," Columbus says. "I mean, nothing has been approved. We're working on something, but we're always [working on something]. Gremlins is a never-ending writing assignment."
The first of several era-defining collaborations between Columbus and Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment during the 1980s (The Goonies and Young Sherlock Holmes followed), Gremlins got a sequel in 1990, titled The New Batch, but Columbus wasn't creatively involved.
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"Back in the early 80s, when we had finished Gremlins, there was the opportunity to do Gremlins 2, but I was of a mind that once I've said it, I've said it, there's no reason to do a sequel," Columbus adds. "So Steven and I could have worked on Gremlins 2, but I said, 'No, I've done that. I'm going to move on.' And I moved on to Goonies and Young Sherlock Holmes. So we still worked together."
Since then, Columbus has come round to sequels – not only did he make Home Alone 2 in the early 90s, Columbus launched the Harry Potter film series as the director of The Philosopher's Stone and The Chamber of Secrets. But sequels to Gremlins and The Goonies have remained unrealised.
"Honestly, we've been toying around with Gremlins and Goonies ideas for 30-plus years. We just haven't cracked it yet. And Steven and I don't want to do a film that's not great. There has to be a reason for doing it. It has to be more than just, 'Okay, we'll do great at the box office with the title.' It has to be something that the fans are proud of, something that we're proud of that also all of the fans can say, 'Okay, they did a great job on this film.' So, we're very, very specific about making sure it's great."
The Thursday Murder Club is something of a professional reunion for Columbus and Spielberg, who haven't worked on a project together since 2011's The Help. An adaptation of Richard Osman's best-selling series of novels, The Thursday Murder Club is a murder mystery starring a quartet of geriatric sleuths who endeavour to solve a real-life murder in their idealistic retirement community. It stars Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie and an all-star supporting cast.
The Thursday Murder Club is streaming now on Netflix. For more, check out our list of the best Netflix movies to fill out your watchlist.
I'm the Managing Editor, Entertainment here at GamesRadar+, overseeing the site's film and TV coverage. In a previous life as a print dinosaur, I was the Deputy Editor of Total Film magazine, and the news editor at SFX magazine. Fun fact: two of my favourite films released on the same day - Blade Runner and The Thing.
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