Rejected ‘Gremlins’ Pitch Opened On a Plane

FORSTER: “The rules.” I can’t believe this.
TECHNICIAN 2: Or what about if he’s eating in an airplane, and they cross the time zone —

Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, best known to us horror fans for writing the Friday the 13th and shooting draft of Freddy vs Jason, allegedly pitched for Warner Bros.’ long-gestured reboot/sequel of Joe Dante’s Gremlins.

Surprising their Twitter followers, the duo shared the first two pages for their concept, which opens on a plane (in a nod to “The Twilight Zone” episode ‘Terror at 20,000 Feet’?) where a dropped peanut unleashes the monsters.

In case anyone interested, this is intro to our rejected pitch for the new GREMLINS movie. RT if you like (or hate?) pic.twitter.com/gh3EXiWTr5

— Shannon and Swift (@shannonandswift) February 4, 2016

As you can read above, this pitch would have glossed right over the “rules” and dropped viewers right into the nitty gritty. It’s fun but hard to gather if it’s a direction I personally would have been excited about. I do like the implication that it returns to its suburban roots, but would miss the holiday setting. And the obvious reference to Gremlins 2, well, that’s priceless…

The last we heard, Gremlins may be taking inspiration from Jurassic World. But there’s been no clear update in quite some time.

For now, enjoy this gem of “Key & Peele” tackling the absurdity of Gremlins 2.