Today marks another year we have been blessed by Gremlins, which originally released on the 8th June 1984. A ballsy move to release a Christmas film in June, I know.
Gremlins was a great success upon release, though unfortunately for the producers it opened on the same day as Ghostbusters. Both of these films were the product of the rising interest in the mix-up of the horror and comedy genres, which made box office fighting even more strenuous for the pair. Gremlins, along with Temple of Doom, was also responsible for the addition of the PG-13 age rating in America, as films such as Gremlins were not considered violent enough for the R rating, so would pass as PG. This led to a lot of complaints from parents who took their children to see Gremlins expecting an early-holiday adventure film, having been misled by a very ambiguous trailer and the cute and cuddly appearance of Gizmo.
The Gremlin animatronics cost about $40,000 each, and because of this all crew members had to have their cars searched by security at the end of every shift in case anyone tried to sneak one home. Before going ahead with pricey robot gremlins, the crew attempted to dress monkeys in Gremlins costumes, but scrapped the idea as the monkeys would flip the fuck out whenever a Gremlin mask was put on their heads. Original drafts of the script were also much darker - originally Gizmo and Stripe were the same character, Billy's mum is decapitated and her head is thrown at Billy down some stairs, and Mr Futterman was supposed to be killed. Kate's Santa Claus speech was also nearly cut from the film, as the studio execs didn't like the ambiguity of whether or not the story was supposed to be funny or sad. You'll also notice that the set of Kingston Falls is also used for Hill Valley in Back to the Future, and the cinema Billy and Kate blow up is the same one Marty drives the DeLorean into.
Gremlins has since become a much-loved cult classic, spawning a daft as fuck sequel in which the Hulkster breaks the fourth wall and rips his vest up, and it has been re-imagined in video games and a Lego set. Incidentally, the gremlins also turn up in The Lego Batman Movie.There's been talks of a sequel, and also a dreaded remake, but so far both are just early studio talks that have never really taken off the ground, with the last talkings of a sequel being put on hold in 2015. Allegedly the original writer Chris Columbus has plans for a much darker and twisted film that the previous two, so it seems unlikely that the Hulkster may ever return to the franchise. Shame.
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