After A 36 Year Wait, Gremlins 3’s New Release Date Is Actually Better For The Movie

Published Sep 29, 2026, 1:20 PM EDT

Zoë Miskelly is an editor and second in command for Screen Rant's Movies team, having covered the entertainment industry for almost 10 years now. Zoë's love of superheroes and all things Marvel & DC started out in childhood, and has blossomed into a career getting to talk about some of the biggest and best movies and shows of all time, having previously focused on comics while working at WhatCulture.

Though fans have waited almost 40 years for Gizmo's return in Gremlins 3 already, the movie's delay to 2028 is for the best for the film and the beloved franchise it comes from. Ever since Gremlins first hit screens in the 80s, audiences have had a deep love for the unconventional and sometimes homicidal critters it centers on, even if the series was responsible for plenty of childhood nightmares, and played a subsequent role in the creation of the PG-13 rating as a result of some of its more intense scenes.

That hasn't translated into a wide slew of movies, however, as thus far Gremlins has only had two mainline films, though it has had an animated spinoff titled Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, as well as tie-in novelizations, comics, and more than one video game based around the story of the creatures who turn malicious when fed after midnight.

As such, the news of Gremlins 3 came as a welcome update for fans of the series - though, only a year later, this has come hand-in-hand with the news that the movie's prior release date has now been pushed back by a year, meaning it'll be even longer before we're reunited with Gizmo and his comedy horror adventures. On the plus, though, this delay seems to make sense for the franchise for more than one reason.

Gremlins 3's Delay Is For The Best For Its Production Process

Given ideas around the prospect of another Gremlins follow-up like Gremlins 3 have been reportedly in the works since 2013, the fact Gremlin 3's release date has been delayed from a prior reported release date of November 19, 2027 to October 6, 2028 might seem jarring, as this will mark 15 years since he concept of Gremlins 3 seemed to be a possibility for the franchise.

However, the actual production timeline for Gremlins 3 tells a different story. Reports of active development on Gremlins 3 only really surfaced in 2025, when news officially broke that Gremlins 3 was in the works, and that Chris Columbus would be working on the movie following his prior work on the original 1984 Gremlins film itself.

As such, the movie having two years to go from this point to appearing in theaters, while a relatively respectable production timeline, is also short enough that it makes sense to delay to a three-year production timeline with the subsequent October 2028 release date.

This ensures a healthy amount of time can be spent on making the film as good as possible - a matter that is particularly crucial here, given a key selling point will be making central figure Gizmo feel sufficiently real on-screen to audiences, which could be a time-consuming endeavor in terms of testing what works best on-screen.

Given The Time Between Gremlins 2: The New Batch & Gremlins 3, The Third Film Shouldn't Be Rushed

Ultimately, it has to also be considered that there's no particular need to release Gremlins 3 very soon, since this isn't exactly a scenario wherein the franchise needs to ensure it's keeping up a relatively consistent release schedule that audiences can anticipate.

Following the 1984 debut of Gremlins, the first sequel in the film series - that of Gremlins 2: The New Batch - would itself take six years to release, with the second movie debuting in 1990. After that, we've had a 36-year break for the film series, which is a sufficiently long enough time that an extra year delay doesn't really seem to change things around by all that much when looking at the big picture.

With all this in mind, even though those eager to get more Mogwai magic are sure to be sad to have to wait another year for the film to finally hit cinemas, this does seem like a move that makes sense for Gremlins 3 and the broader Gremlins franchise overall.

Gremlins 3