CHRISTMAS MOVIE TRIVIA … GREMLINS

 

· Originally planned and scheduled for a Christmas release, the film was rushed into production shortly after Warner Bros. found out that it had no major competition against Paramount's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) or Columbia's Ghost Busters (1984) for the summer movie season.

· In the original draft of the script, instead of Stripe being a Mogwai who becomes a Gremlin, there was no Stripe the Mogwai and Gizmo was supposed to turn into Stripe the Gremlin. Steven Spielberg overruled this plot element because he felt Gizmo was cute and audiences would want him to be present at all stages of the film. This became stressful for Chris Walas who had designed the Gizmo puppet only for the actions that happened in the first half of the movie.

· While Rand Peltzer is talking with his wife at the inventor's convention, the machine from The Time Machine (1960) can be seen in the background winding up to full power. The scene cuts to the house, and when we cut back again, the machine has gone, leaving only a wisp of colored smoke.

· Mrs. Deagle, the richest lady in town, has named her cats after different kinds of currency (including Kopeck, Drachma and Dollar Bill).

· The "Rockin' Ricky Rialto" billboard shows a man dressed like Indiana Jones, holding a microphone like a whip, and the "Rockin' Ricky Rialto" logo in the Indiana Jones typeface.

· While watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) on the local cinema, one of the gremlins wears some Mickey Mouse's ears.

· The set for Kingston Falls is the same one used for Back to the Future (1985). Both movies were filmed in the Universal Studios backlot.

· At Dorry's Tavern, one of the gremlins is playing Star Wars (1983).

· The footage of Santa on the roof that Mr. Futterman is watching in his home is of Red Skelton in a Christmas skit from one of his shows.

· After watching his earlier short films, Steven Spielberg considered Tim Burton to direct the film. But decided against it because at the time Burton had never directed a full feature length film.

· According to Joe Dante and Michael Finnell, the original rough cut of the film ran 2 hours and 40 minutes.