It has been more than 40 years since Billy Peltzer learned why you don’t get mogwai wet or feed them after midnight, and now a new generation of moviegoers will experience something similar when Gremlins 3 hits the big screen. Wait, there’s a new Gremlins movie coming out? Yes! Unlike Randall Peltzer’s dangerous inventions or Daniel Clamp’s facade, trust us when we say that one of the best ‘80s movies is getting another sequel.
Though the project was only just recently made official, there are some key details we’ve already learned about the new follow-up to a classic horror comedy (and one of the reasons behind the PG-13 rating). From the Gremlins 3 release date to the heavyweight creative team seeing it through, here’s everything we know about the upcoming horror movie.
What Is The Gremlins 3 Release Date?
So, when will we get to see Gizmo and his not-so-friendly mogwai brothers and sisters again? During a Warner Bros. Discovery investor call (via Variety), studio chief David Zaslav announced the hotly anticipated Gremlins 3 release date has been set for November 19, 2027, less than a week before the big Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
We’re still two years out, but Gremlins 3 will be part of a busy schedule in the final weeks of 2027, a stretch that currently includes Frozen III, Avengers: Secret Wars, and The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.
Chris Columbus Is Directing Gremlins 3
Not only do we have a release date for Gremlins 3, but we also know that Chris Columbus will be directing the new horror comedy. In the same November 2025 Variety article, it was revealed that Chris Columbus, who penned the first movie all those decades ago, would finally direct an entry in the long-dormant film franchise.
Columbus, who directed classic ‘90s movies like Home Alone and Mrs. Doubtfire before kicking off the Harry Potter film franchise in 2001 with The Sorcerer’s Stone, wrote the script for the upcoming project. That treatment is currently being retooled by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein, the filmmaking duo who most recently co-directed the great 2025 horror flick, Final Destination Bloodlines. With the blend of humor, thrills, and chills in their frightening continuation of the iconic horror movie franchise, it will be interesting to see how they handle the Gremlins property.
Steven Spielberg Is Also Involved With Gremlins 3
The list of Steven Spielberg’s best movies includes some absolute bangers, and the same can be said about a lot of the other movies the Academy Award-winning filmmaker has produced over the years, including Gremlins. Well, it looks like the Hollywood legend, who is also working on a mysterious sci-fi movie, will be coming back as an executive producer on Gremlins 3.
When Deadline was covering the big news in November 2025, it reported that both Spielberg and his Amblin Entertainment production company were involved in the project, which should be music to the ears of those who grew up being obsessed with Gremlins and pretty much everything else he was involved with.
Gremlins 3 Has Been In The Works For Years
Though the Gremlins film franchise is just now officially being revived, work on the third big-screen installment in the series has been ongoing for years. We’ve been talking about the planned threequel for a decade at this point, back when Zach Galligan, who played Billy Peltzer in the first two films, was focusing on getting things going again.
Chris Columbus himself spoke about the movie back in 2017 when he told Slash Film what he had in mind for the continuation of the franchise. His comments had us excited at the time, and the same is true today, nearly 10 years later:
I’m really proud of the script. It is as twisted and dark as anything, so we’ll see. It’s always a budgetary conversation when we’re going to shoot it. I wanted to go back to the really twisted sensibility of the first movie. I found that was a very easy place for me to fall back into and start writing again, so hopefully we’ll see that movie soon.
The whole “twisted sensibility” comment from Columbus is something that sounds very interesting, even if some of us have a soft spot for the over-the-top absurdity of Gremlins 2: The New Batch.
The New Gremlins Movie Will Reportedly Rely On Practical Effects Instead Of CGI
A lot has changed since Gremlins first came out in 1984, and the technology used to bring stories to life on the big screen has advanced exponentially. Well, it sounds like Gremlins 3 could take a very old-school approach to the creature effects.
When speaking with Collider back in 2020, when the project was still an “if and not when” situation, Chris Columbus touched on his desire to take the practical route, opposed to using CGI to have the mutated mogwai cause all that mayhem and destruction, saying:
I would love to do it. I wrote a script, so there is an existing script. We’re working out some rights issues right now, so we’re just trying to figure out when the best time to make that film would be. I would still do it the same way – I would do it as tangible puppets, not CGI. Maybe having — you know we had one stop-motion scene in the first Gremlins, but I don’t think I’d use much CGI in Gremlins 3.
Now that all the rights issues have seemingly been resolved and Gremlins 3 is actually happening, hopefully, Columbus gets his wish and avoids CGI this time around.
How To Watch The First Two Gremlins Movies
Though we still have around two years until Gremlins 3 hits the big screen, it’s never too early to start prepping for the franchise’s big return. That said, you can watch both Gremlins movies with an HBO Max subscription right now. If you want to go back and relive some childhood memories with both Gremlins and Gremlins 2: The New Batch, they’re just sitting there waiting to be watched.
Expect to hear more about Gremlins 3 in the coming months, especially when the cast starts filling out. Until then, might as well all take a look at the 2026 movie schedule to see what’ll be holding it down at the theater while we wait.