The Jim Henson Company is reportedly taking over the Gremlins 3 puppets, replacing Legacy Effects as the shop building Gizmo, the mogwai and the gremlins for Warner Bros. and Amblin Entertainment’s long-awaited sequel, according to The Gremlins Museum.
Warner Bros. has also released the first teaser for the film and moved its release date nearly a full year, from November 19, 2027, to October 6, 2028.
10.6.28. Only In Theaters.
— Warner Bros. (@warnerbros) September 23, 2026
Legacy Effects Out, Creature Shop In
A source familiar with the production told The Gremlins Museum that Legacy Effects was originally hired to create the film’s creatures. Legacy already had a connection to the franchise, having built the Gizmo puppet for a 2021 Mountain Dew commercial that reunited the character with original star Zach Galligan. The production ultimately chose to go in a different direction and reassigned the work to Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.
The Creature Shop’s recent credits include the Five Nights at Freddy’s films, the second season of Nine Perfect Strangers, Lost Ollie and Come Play, along with the extensive creature work on Netflix’s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Warner Bros. and Amblin have not confirmed the change.
Jim Henson founded the Creature Shop in 1979. When Disney bought The Muppets in 2004, the Henson family kept the Creature Shop along with Fraggle Rock, The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.
Cameras Have Not Rolled Yet
Industry production listings had pointed to an August 1, 2026 start for principal photography, later moved up to July. Neither month brought any sign that cameras were rolling, and filming is now expected to begin in early 2027. Warner Bros. has not said why the release date moved.
Chris Columbus has said for years that the gremlins would be puppets and animatronics rather than CGI, and the teaser backs that up. The 11-second clip shows Gizmo peeking out of a backpack before the new date appears, and he appears closer to the Chris Walas design from the 1984 original than the glossier Rick Baker version from Gremlins 2: The New Batch.
Hannah Marks is now writing the screenplay from an earlier draft by Columbus, Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein. No cast has been announced, and Galligan’s return as Billy Peltzer has not been confirmed.
Gremlins 3 Credits
Gremlins 3 is directed and produced by Chris Columbus, who wrote the 1984 original, with a screenplay by Hannah Marks from a draft by Columbus, Lipovsky and Stein. Steven Spielberg returns as executive producer alongside Eleanor Columbus. Kristie Macosko Krieger and Holly Bario produce for Amblin Entertainment with Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe of 26th Street Pictures. The film opens in theaters October 6, 2028.
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