Gremlins 3 has not started filming. As of the September 24, 2026 updates, the movie remains in pre-production, and the current release date is October 6, 2028. That’s the number you came for, and it’s the number we’ll keep re-verifying as this log runs through release day, because this franchise has already moved once: the film was originally dated November 19, 2027, before slipping a year.
This is GeekExtreme’s dated production log for the sequel, and the format is simple. Every claim below arrives with its date attached, the current facts lead, and the thirteen years of development history stay compressed behind them. Two tentative shoot dates came and went without cameras rolling, the release date now lives inside a ten-second teaser clip, and the screenplay was still being rewritten four days before this article’s reference point. Here’s the paper trail.
Key Takeaways
Gremlins 3 is not filming: it’s in pre-production as of the September 24, 2026 updates, with two tentative 2026 shoot dates (August 1, then July) that both passed quietly.
The current release date is October 6, 2028, confirmed by the date card in Warner Bros.’ 10-second teaser released September 23, 2026; the original date was November 19, 2027.
On September 24, 2026, The Hollywood Reporter reported Hannah Marks joined as co-writer alongside Chris Columbus, replacing Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein but building from their earlier draft.
Table of Contents
Is Gremlins 3 filming yet? The current status
No, Gremlins 3 is not filming, it remains in pre-production as of the September 24, 2026 updates. The consensus across every tracker we watch is stable on three points: the film is in pre-production, no principal photography has occurred, and the release is scheduled for October 6, 2028, moved from the originally announced November 19, 2027.
The status list, with dates attached:
- Current stage: Pre-production. The screenplay was still being reworked as of the September 24, 2026 co-writer announcement (more on that below), and no cast member has been officially confirmed.
- Filming timeline: Industry listings pointed to a tentative August 1, 2026 start, which later moved up to July 2026. Both dates have now passed with no public sign of a shoot. Production List, last updated March 24, 2026, still had the film in pre-production with a planned August 2026 US shoot.
- Release date: October 6, 2028, theatrical, via Warner Bros. The date’s origin is the September 23, 2026 teaser, which we’ll dig into properly.
One distinction matters here, because it’s the difference between this log and the “filming has secretly begun” posts that circulate every few weeks: tentative industry-listing data is not confirmed principal photography. FTIA and Production List are scheduling paperwork, not studio statements, and neither tracker’s dates were a commitment. Claims that cameras are already rolling have no public support, no set photos, no location reports, no trade confirmation, nothing. If a shoot were underway on a puppet-heavy franchise film this anticipated, someone would have noticed.
The creative team, for the record: Chris Columbus directs, and Steven Spielberg executive produces. The full roster lives in the announcement section below.
Why lean on listings at all? Because on this beat, they’re the only evidence that exists. Until Warner Bros. or Amblin issues a production start announcement, the FTIA and Production List entries are the only dated, checkable record of where the schedule stands. We’ve been watching them update since February, and the pattern they show, a date moving, then quietly expiring, is itself information.
September 24, 2026: Hannah Marks takes over co-writing
The freshest dated update: on September 24, 2026, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Hannah Marks has joined Gremlins 3 as co-writer alongside Chris Columbus. She replaces Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein, the Final Destination: Bloodlines directors who co-wrote the previous draft with Columbus and were the named co-writers at the November 2025 announcement. The key nuance: Marks builds from that earlier draft, so this is a fork of existing work, not a rewrite from scratch.
Read plainly, a co-writer swap four months after two missed shoot dates signals a screenplay that hasn’t locked. That’s not doom; it’s just where the file is. No reason for the change has been given, and we won’t speculate on why Lipovsky and Stein exited. Some listings also attach Toby Halbrooks as a writer, though that’s listing-level data rather than an announcement.
September 23, 2026: the teaser and the new release date
Gremlins 3’s release date is October 6, 2028, confirmed in the teaser. That’s the flat answer, and the teaser is where it comes from, the hook on which the whole date hangs.
Here’s the artifact: on September 23, 2026, Warner Bros. released a 10-second teaser. Ten seconds. Gizmo crawls out of Billy Peltzer’s green North Face backpack, then a date card: 10-6-2028. That’s the entire payload, one creature, one date, and honestly it’s kind of elegant how much a studio can communicate with a clip shorter than most app load screens.
This is the only official footage of Gremlins 3 in existence, and it’s the origin of the current release date. The date wasn’t announced in a press release; it was hidden inside ten seconds of puppet. It also answers the standing “will Gizmo be in it” question with actual evidence rather than assumption: he’s right there, crawling out of the backpack.
The Gizmo design points back to 1984. The read here is that the teaser Gizmo reverts to Chris Walas’s 1984 look rather than Rick Baker’s glossier Gremlins 2 redesign, and we want to be careful with the label, because this is appearance-based interpretation of a ten-second clip, not confirmed creature design. The design nerds will check the frames themselves and we encourage it. But if the read holds, it’s physical evidence for a creative direction Columbus has stated openly: a return to the darker spirit of the first film.
Design lineage, director’s quotes, and effects stance all pointing the same way is more convincing than any press release. We’re not going to frame-by-frame a clip you can watch in one breath, but the Walas-era fuzz is worth zooming in on, along with what it might mean for Gizmo’s role in the sequel.
September 11, 2026: the reported puppet-studio swap
Columbus’s on-record stance is puppets, not digital gremlins. He’s stated it since 2020 and reaffirmed it since: practical puppets and animatronics for the creatures, with CGI limited to removing rods and wires. That last detail is what makes the position believable rather than dogmatic. It’s not “no computers,” it’s digital cleanup in service of physical performance, which for anyone who knows what practical creature work costs in time and sweat is the honest version of the promise. For readers who only half-follow effects news: this is the director choosing the hard way on purpose, and it’s the technical commitment the whole tone of this movie rests on.
Now the unconfirmed part. On September 11, 2026, The Gremlins Museum relayed, via a source familiar with the production, that the Jim Henson Company is reportedly handling puppet creation, replacing Legacy Effects, which was originally aboard for Gizmo, the mogwai, and the gremlins. Neither Warner Bros. nor Amblin has confirmed it. That’s the chain, a fan site plus an unnamed source, and we’re keeping it labeled as a report, full stop.
For what it’s worth on both sides: Legacy Effects built a Gizmo puppet for a 2021 Mountain Dew commercial featuring Zach Galligan, so the shop has recent hands-on experience with this exact character. The Creature Shop’s recent resume, though, is dense with relevant work: Five Nights at Freddy’s, Nine Perfect Strangers Season 2, Lost Ollie, Come Play, and Netflix’s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. For Gremlins fans, Age of Resistance is the standout on that list: full-series practical fantasy puppetry.
If accurate, the swap has a mechanical consequence: a puppet-heavy film that switches fabrication shops has to start over with sculpting and testing before cameras can roll. On creature features, changes to the fabrication team tend to come ahead of schedule changes. That’s a common pattern in this kind of production, anchored to the documented report rather than any studio statement, but it’s the most concrete connective thread between the missed shoot dates and the delayed release that anyone has put on record.
The 2026 shooting schedule trail and filming locations
Gremlins 3 has no confirmed filming start date. Industry listings pointed to August 1, 2026, then July 2026, and neither produced a shoot.
What the listings actually say, as a dated trail:
- February 21, 2026: FTIA listed the film in pre-production with a tentative August 1, 2026 start in the United States. The same listing carried the synopsis, quoted exactly:
That deadpan simplicity is both funny and, we’d note, the only official plot language that exists anywhere.A sequel to Gremlins (1984) about cute little creatures that transform into uncontrollable monsters.
- June 10, 2026: the shoot moved up to July 2026. The schedule got more aggressive, then apparently didn’t happen.
- Production List, last updated March 24, 2026: pre-production with an August 2026 US shoot. Another tracker, another snapshot, staleness visible in the update date.
One pattern tell worth keeping in your toolkit: on industry production listings, including IMDb’s, when a listed date moves earlier, it’s more often a paperwork fix than a real speed-up. The June move-up fits that shape, a paperwork adjustment followed by silence, not a sped-up shoot.
Where would it film? Not announced. The only location information on record anywhere is “somewhere in the United States,” which is barely information. No set reports can exist because no filming is confirmed, that’s not a gap in coverage, it’s the actual state of the record.
The honest way to read this film’s scale right now is through its pre-production footprint: fabrication needs, a writer change, and two slipped dates. That footprint tells you more than any invented set detail would.
Why Gremlins 3 was delayed from 2027 to 2028
Gremlins 3 moved from November 19, 2027 to October 6, 2028 because the production wasn’t ready: the script was still being rewritten, and the creature fabrication had just changed hands. Lay the three dated targets side by side and the shape appears: a December 25, 2023 poster date that was never met (a Christmas release for Gremlins would have been almost too fitting, and we note its passing with affection), the November 19, 2027 announcement date, and the current October 6, 2028.
The official framing is that Warner Bros. and Columbus are giving the production more time, and that framing is consistent with the documented chain: the script was still being rewritten as of September 24, 2026, a creature-fabrication change was reported on September 11, 2026 that would require months of new work, and two shoot windows passed quietly. Then the contrarian read, clearly labeled as our analysis: for a practical-effects production, delays spent on fabrication and script may end up working in the film’s favor. You can’t rush puppets. This is inference from the record, not a studio statement, but the record supports it.
Gremlins 3 casting: confirmed vs. rumored
No Gremlins 3 casting has been confirmed. Variety reported at the announcement that no plot description or starring cast had been disclosed, and nothing official has landed since.
The Jenna Ortega rumor, with its full evidentiary trail. On April 7, 2026, insider Daniel Richtman (DanielRPK) reported that Ortega was offered the female lead, with the film possibly centering on a female lead. Her representatives denied that any offer was extended. Variety, THR, and Deadline never picked the story up. Weight the denial over the rumor: the claim is unconfirmed, the denial is on record, and the trades that would normally verify casting news have stayed silent.
Why the rumor keeps spreading anyway. Ortega’s Wednesday, Scream, and Beetlejuice credentials fit the franchise’s horror-comedy lane exactly, and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice‘s success as a decades-later legacy sequel, one she starred in, makes the rumor’s shape plausible. That’s context for why it caught fire, not evidence it’s true. Here’s the pattern that keeps repeating: insider casting reports outlive their denials because they answer a demand the denial doesn’t. The tell is which trades have stayed silent, and here, all of them have.
November 6, 2025: the announcement and creative team
Warner Bros. Pictures officially announced Gremlins 3 on November 6, 2025, confirmed by CEO David Zaslav on a Warner Bros. Discovery investor call, which remains, as far as we can tell, the least Gremlins venue possible for Gremlins news. Variety and Collider reported it, and CBR picked it up for fans. After more than three decades since the last film, the rumor mill turned into an actual movie.
The creative core is the part that makes this feel legit to fans: Chris Columbus, who wrote the original 1984 screenplay, returns as director, producer, and co-writer, the person who invented the three rules is back to enforce them, on the page as well as behind the camera. Steven Spielberg executive produces via Amblin Entertainment, and Spielberg tapped Columbus for the job. The notable absence: Joe Dante, who directed the originals, is not returning. His films are the reason this franchise has a cult at all, and we’re treating his sitting this one out as a fact, not a slight.
The credits-block layer, fast:
- Producers: Kristie Macosko Krieger and Holly Bario (Amblin); Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe (26th Street Pictures)
- Production companies: Amblin Entertainment, Warner Bros., 26th Street Pictures
Why Warner Bros. greenlit Gremlins 3 now
The greenlight rides Warner Bros.’ record 2025: seven consecutive releases opening above $40 million (A Minecraft Movie, Sinners, Weapons, The Conjuring: Last Rites among them) and the only studio to cross $4 billion in 2025 box office. Studios got more bullish on legacy sequels after Beetlejuice Beetlejuice worked, with the Practical Magic sequel riding the same logic. Jesse Ehrman’s framing: bringing Gremlins back for lifelong fans and a new generation.
The decade of development behind Gremlins 3
2013 to 2025, the long road. In January 2013, Vulture reported Warner Bros. and Amblin in reboot negotiations, with Seth Grahame-Smith and David Katzenberg set to produce; they later departed. An early poster bore a December 25, 2023 date that came and went unmet. In 2015, Columbus confirmed a new film was in development, saying he wanted to keep the tone and spirit of the originals intact, the through-line of his entire decade of quotes.
By 2017, a finished script existed, and Columbus described it as twisted and dark, one that explored whether Gizmo should be killed to prevent future outbreaks because too many people were dying. By 2020 the script was done but the project was held up by rights negotiations and timing, the boring-but-real blockers, not creative problems. In January 2025, Deadline reported a third film in development alongside a continuation of The Goonies, which is fun context given Columbus wrote that one too.
Sequel, reboot, or something else? In 2018, Columbus said the film would “almost definitely be a reboot”, a comment that survives via Gremlins Wiki, which carries a maintenance notice, so we weight it lower. The correction came from the best possible source: Zach Galligan, star of the original, later confirmed it’s a sequel, and FTIA’s listing calls it a sequel too. The timeline resolves itself.
One thing nobody has confirmed: whether the finished film will be built from Columbus’s darker draft or from something new entirely. Columbus, for his part, has said he was unhappy with where Gremlins 2 went. Continuity is officially unclear, and fans are already arguing about it.
Gremlins (1984) vs. Gremlins 2: the franchise stakes
The original Gremlins (1984), directed by Joe Dante from Columbus’s screenplay, grossed $212 million worldwide and famously prompted the creation of the PG-13 rating, one movie so chaotic it forced the ratings board to invent a new category. The setup is elegantly simple: Billy, the mogwai Gizmo, and three rules. Gremlins 2: The New Batch grossed $41 million in 1990 but became a cult classic, the weird sequel that outlived its numbers. Gremlins 3 inherits the split between the darker 1984 tone and the satirical sequel, the split Columbus wants to resolve, and the one the teaser’s design choice already gestures toward.
Gremlins 3 rumors, cleared up
“Curse of the Mogwai” is not an official subtitle. Warner Bros. has announced only “Gremlins 3,” and the “Curse of the Mogwai” label is a fan invention circulating on wikis. Gremlins Wiki, again, carries a maintenance notice. Treat any titled version you see as unofficial until Warner Bros. says otherwise.
The old trailers are not real. The only official footage is the September 23, 2026 teaser. The “trailers” filling searches for 2021, 2022, and 2023 are fan-made or unrelated YouTube uploads, and the film is dated 2028, not 2027. If a clip predates last month, it’s not from this movie.
There’s no streaming home. Current reporting describes a theatrical October 6, 2028 release via Warner Bros. No Netflix deal or streaming arrangement has been announced, so if you’ve seen “Gremlins 3 on Netflix,” that’s an assumption being fed, not a fact.
How to read the next update. Our three-tier test, reusable on any headline you see: (1) a Warner Bros. or Amblin official announcement, (2) pickup by Variety, THR, or Deadline, (3) dated industry listings explicitly marked tentative. Tier three is where we are now. Worth watching next: an official title, a first confirmed cast member, any fabrication-studio confirmation, or a shoot date that actually holds. We’ll keep the log running until October 6, 2028, and if you want the deeper background on what’s confirmed versus speculated, our full Gremlins 3 deep-dive has you covered, along with our breakdown of what’s real in the trailer search results.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Gremlins 3 being filmed?
No filming location has been announced. The only location information on record is a tentative United States shoot from industry listings, and no set reports exist because no filming has been confirmed. The film remains in pre-production, so any specific location claims you see are unsupported.
Will Gizmo be in Gremlins 3?
Yes — Gizmo appears in the only official footage that exists. In Warner Bros.’ 10-second teaser released September 23, 2026, Gizmo crawls out of Billy Peltzer’s green North Face backpack before a date card reading 10-6-2028. The teaser’s Gizmo design also appears to revert to Chris Walas’s 1984 look rather than Rick Baker’s glossier Gremlins 2 redesign, though that read is appearance-based interpretation, not confirmed creature design.
Why is Gremlins 3 delayed?
The film moved from November 19, 2027 to October 6, 2028 because the production wasn’t ready. The screenplay was still being rewritten as of the September 24, 2026 co-writer announcement, and a reported change in the creature-fabrication team would require months of new sculpting and testing before cameras could roll. Two tentative 2026 shoot dates also passed quietly with no filming.
Is Gremlins 3 filming yet or still in pre-production?
Gremlins 3 is still in pre-production as of the September 24, 2026 updates. Industry listings pointed to a tentative August 1, 2026 start that later moved up to July 2026, but both dates passed with no public sign of a shoot — no set photos, no location reports, and no trade confirmation. Claims that cameras are already rolling have no support.
When does Gremlins 3 start filming and what is the shooting schedule?
There is no confirmed filming start date. The dated trail shows FTIA listing a tentative August 1, 2026 US shoot on February 21, 2026, then a move up to July 2026 on June 10, 2026, with Production List still showing pre-production as of its March 24, 2026 update. Neither date produced a shoot, and when a listed date moves earlier on these trackers, it usually reflects a paperwork correction rather than real acceleration.
Who will be in Gremlins 3 and has any casting been confirmed?
No cast member has been officially confirmed. Variety reported at the November 2025 announcement that no starring cast had been disclosed, and nothing official has landed since. The only confirmed names are behind the camera: Chris Columbus as director, producer, and co-writer, and Steven Spielberg as executive producer.
