Zach Galligan says Warner Bros. initially didn’t buy into Gremlins, even reacting to early rushes with disbelief—until test screenings in California flipped everything, unleashing a scramble that helped turn the June 8, 1984 hit into a lasting franchise.
On the surface, Gremlins feels like one of those movies that was always meant to roar. Directed by Joe Dante and written by Chris Columbus. the horror-comedy creature feature exploded after its June 8. 1984 release—making over $212 million globally on an $11 million budget. and eventually spawning a franchise that stretches beyond the original film.
But before the Mogwai ever became a household name—and before anyone heard the rules about what you never do after midnight—Warner Bros. nearly let it slip away.
At the Indiana Comic Convention. Zach Galligan. an original star of Gremlins. looked back at how the film nearly didn’t land. “One of the crazy things about Gremlins is. I’m still finding out stuff about the movie 40 years later that I just didn’t know. ” he said. Part of what surprised him was how long the studio didn’t seem to understand what Dante and Columbus were building.
Galligan recalled that Warner Bros. didn’t see the vision at first. A few darker moments—especially Kate’s (Phoebe Cates) story about how her father died—left the studio hesitant about whether it would connect with general audiences. In their view. the project felt more like “an odd. indie horror project” than something that could become a multi-million-dollar hit.
Then the turnaround happened quickly, and it started with test screenings in California.
Galligan shared that Warner Bros. “really was not high on Gremlins at all.” He added that early rushes—like Phoebe Cates’ dead dad sequence and the “Santa Claus in the chimney thing”—got a reaction along the lines of: “This is weird and sick and gross and never gonna fly.” Galligan said producer Mike Fennel’s account matched what came next: the studio held a screening in Sacramento where the audience response was “absolutely psychotic.”.
After that, Warner Bros. ran another test, this time in San Diego. From there, the numbers pushed the studio into re-evaluating what Gremlins was—and what it could become. “Oh my God. maybe we have something here. ” Galligan recalled them deciding. as the test scores came in “so off the charts” that they couldn’t ignore it anymore.
That shift didn’t just change the mood around the film. It changed the calendar.
Galligan described a marketing scramble that began almost immediately once the studio realized the movie wasn’t going to flop quietly. He said that. as he put it. “March 1st” was a key moment to remember because the movie was coming out on June 8th—and by that point there was “no merchandising in place whatsoever.” Then by April 15th. in about six weeks. everything accelerated.
In Galligan’s telling, Warner Bros. went from having “hardly anything in place” to launching an all-out push that included Hardee’s records. a Gremlin storybook. a lunchbox. trading cards. Gizmos. and even peanut butter gremlin cereal—something he described as “terrible.” He said the studio also moved quickly into a teaser trailer and that. once the test screenings hit. they started treating Gremlins like an event instead of a throwaway.
“Gremlins was almost the movie that was almost really a throwaway,” Galligan said.
The studio’s belief may have come late, but the results were unmistakable. Gremlins went on to become the 1980s kind of hit that never fully leaves pop culture alone—its legacy showing up in everything from Ghoulies to Stranger Things.
And even now, after Gremlins hasn’t been in theaters with a new installment since Gremlins 2: The New Batch in 1990, the franchise is still moving forward.
Warner Bros. announced last year that Gremlins 3 will head to theaters on November 19, 2027. Joe Dante won’t be back as director, but Columbus will return, now sitting in the director’s chair. Stephen Spielberg is set to executive produce again.
Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein—the duo behind Final Destination Bloodlines—were also tapped to write the legacy sequel, though any plot details or cast remain under wraps.
For fans not wanting to wait, Gremlins can currently be streamed for free on Pluto TV.
Still, the most vivid part of Galligan’s story doesn’t land on what happens next—it lands on how close the original movie came to never getting its moment at all.
Gremlins Warner Bros. Zach Galligan Joe Dante Chris Columbus Phoebe Cates Mike Fennel test screenings Sacramento San Diego marketing Gremlins 3 November 19 2027 Stephen Spielberg Zach Lipovsky Adam Stein Pluto TV