‘Gremlins 3’ Script Reportedly Written and Waiting on Spielberg’s Approval

Original Gremlins writer Chris Columbus has penned a brand new screenplay for a brand new Gremlins movie, but what’s the status on that Warner Bros. project here in the Summer of 2025? According to franchise star Zach Galligan, the ball is now in Steven Spielberg’s court.

“After 35 years, they’ve come up with a script,” Galligan told the crowd at Comic-Con Manchester. “Warner Bros. is incredibly interested in doing it. Apparently it’s waiting on Mr. Spielberg to read it and approve it. But you can thank the success of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.”

This lines up with recent comments from the top brass over at Warner Bros., with CEOs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy stating in an interview earlier this year that they’re excited to be working with Amblin and Chris Columbus on a new installment in the Gremlins film franchise.

Talk of a third Gremlins movie has come and gone several times over the years, and you can read all about that lengthy history over on the franchise’s official Wikipedia page. But we had first heard about a new script written by Chris Columbus back in 2017, with that iteration of the script described as being both “twisted” and “dark.”

“I’m really proud of the script,” Columbus said in 2017. “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.”

Gremlins more recently returned to the screen with a two-season animated prequel series on HBO Max, but Galligan’s comments suggest the return of Gremlins as a film franchise has less to do with any success on that front and more to do with Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice successfully reviving a similarly beloved 1980s franchise to the tune of $452 million.