‘Gremlins’ Animated Series in the Works at WarnerMedia Streaming Service (EXCLUSIVE)
A “Gremlins” animated series is in development at WarnerMedia’s upcoming streaming service, Variety has learned exclusively from sources.
The potential series is said to be a period piece that would follow Mr. Wing, the Chinese grandfather played in the films by Keye Luke, as a young man as he goes on adventures with the friendly Mogwai Gizmo. The series will be produced by Warner Bros. Television and Amblin Television. Both Warner Bros. and Amblin produced the films on which the show will be based.
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Warner Bros. and Amblin declined to comment.
Tze Chun is attached to write and executive produce. He is known for writing and directing films like 2013’s “Cold Comes the Night” starring Bryan Cranston and 2009’s “Children of Invention. Chun’s TV credits include shows like “Gotham” and “Once Upon a Time.” He is also the co-founder of comic book publisher TKO Studios.
Chun is repped by WME and Morris Yorn.
The first “Gremlins” film was released in 1984. Directed by Joe Dante and written by Chris Columbus, the film was a major box office success. It went on to gross over $153 million worldwide on a reported budget of $11 million. A sequel, “Gremlins 2: The New Batch,” was released in 1990 with Dante returning to direct.
News of the development comes as WarnerMedia prepares to enter the streaming space with its yet-to-be-named streaming platform. Kevin Reilly, the chief creative officer Turner and direct-to-consumer, said at the recent TCA winter press tour that a beta version of the service will not feature original content, with originals expected to begin launching in 2020. He said that WarnerMedia will be looking to mine in-house properties–like “Gremlins”–to generate new content for the service but that not all originals would be based on WarnerMedia IP.
Reilly also hinted that major Warner properties like “Friends” would eventually be pulled from other streaming services like Netflix in favor of having them exclusively on Warner OTT. “You can expect that the crown jewels of Warner will ultimately end up on the new service,” he said, adding that “sharing destination assets like that… (is) not a good model.”
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