Joe Dante is a little surprised by his film The 'Burbs is getting the series remake treatment.
Dante recently spoke The Hollywood journalist to promote the animated series Max Gremlins: The Wild Lot returning this week for its second season. Dante directed the 1984 film Gremlins and its 1990 sequel, and serves as a consulting producer on the prequel show.
The director also directed the 1989 dark comedy The 'Burbsstarring Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern and Carrie Fisher, the story of a family man who becomes convinced that his new neighbors are hiding a scary secret. The film received renewed attention with news last month that Keke Palmer will star in a Peacock series version from executive producers Brian Grazer and Seth MacFarlane.
Dante took to X (formerly Twitter) upon the series' announcement with the message, “Call me maybe,” in response to a post about the news.
When asked what he thinks of the remake, Dante responds THR with a laugh: “I think my real comment was, 'How are they going to make an entire TV series out of that story?' As opposed to 'I want to be the one to do it.'”
He continues: “Good luck to them. It's kind of a unique story.
Dante confirms that he has not been contacted by the series team to be involved. As for what he thinks about his film from 35 years ago sparking a new project, Dante says, “It's always nice when things have an expiration date.”
During the conversation about Gremlins: The Wild BunchDante also discussed the possibilities for a third Gremlins movie. “It depends on the audience,” he said of the possibility of another film. “The fact is, it's too big of a property for someone not to create something.”
The director added: “But it's been hard for people to ask 'Exactly how are we going to do this?' This series is a brilliant answer to this problem because it's a prequel, it's animated, and it's the perfect next step in the Gremlins saga.”