by Ben Bussey

Once they announced Ghostbusters 3, it was only a matter of time before this news broke. MarketSaw reports this morning on plans for a third Gremlins movie – and, given the plans to for Ivan Reitman to shoot the new Ghostbusters in 3-D, and the fact that MarketSaw is a specifically 3-D oriented blog, and the fact that every other film that gets announced now is said to be 3-D… yes, I think you know the end of this sentence already.

From MarketSaw: “I have very good information from a top source that tells me another Gremlins movie is coming to the silver screens and it will be in stereoscopic 3D! It is in the early stages with still lots of hurdles to pass, but it is being developed. This is not a 3D conversion of the original to be clear.”

Assuming this is legit, can we expect Joe Dante to be back in the director’s chair? Tricky question. He’s never made any secret that he didn’t particularly want to do Gremlins 2 – hence he agreed to do the movie only with the freedom to do it as he pleased, which goes some way to explain the absurd post-modern cartoonish excess of that sequel. No bad thing, in my book. He’s also not long ago expressed a lack of interest in coming back to the franchise, and above that an absolute certainty that he wouldn’t be offered the job anyway after Gremlins 2: “They made that mistake once. It’s a moot point, they won’t be coming to me.”

Speaking for myself, I’m not really sure how I feel about the idea of a third Gremlins just yet. Gremlins was a truly seminal movie – along with Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom, it helped create the PG-13, and I dare say without it we wouldn’t have had the slew of 80’s kiddie-horror classics like Critters, The Gate and The Monster Squad. But this constant revisting/rehashing/regurgitation of the past… is it ever going to stop?

Ah, what the hell though, doing it in 3-D certainly opens up the possibilities for a fun time, and the concept certainly leaves room for further movies. And in case you could do with a hint of the potential for a third film, check out this absolutely amazing fan film that’s been online for a while now: