News on Goonies 2 and Gremlins 3

Published by Jeff Leins on April 29, 2009

As part of Steven Spielberg’s guest editing gig for Empire’s 20th anniversary issue, the director orchestrated a reunion of the original cast of 1985’s Goonies, which he conceptualized and executive produced all those years ago.  The historic get-together naturally turned to questions about the long rumored sequel. Never say die.

Every few months another Goonies II story pops up because one of the actors or director Richard Donnor mentions it in an interview, which is misconstrued by blogs in posts reading, “OMG, finally a Goonies 2!” I won’t pretend (with exclamation marks) there is a sequel on the way, just update you on what has been said recently.

Donnor said in 2004 he had a story that Spielberg liked, but Warner Bros apparently wasn’t interested in another Goonie adventure. In 2007, Sean Astin told MTV it was an “absolute certainty.”  Donnor later admitted he didn’t think it would happen, while Corey Feldman wrote on his website, “it’s just not gonna happen.”  Answering direct questions from Empire Magazine, what do those three people say now?

Richard Donner: “We tried for a long time. Steven and I had many meetings with writers but nothing stuck. It seemed disrespectful.”
Corey Feldman: “So I guess the answer about the sequel is that there’s always hope.”
Donner: “No. No hope.”
Sean Astin: “A year from now, ten years from now, 50 years from now, I’m absolutely convinced there’ll be one. We’ll figure it out. A sequel could be great. It could be shitty. You never know. But the original is the thing it is and no-one can ever change it.”

Read into that how you will.  Be sure to check out the video over at Empire Online.

Meawhile, Bloody-Disgusting met with director Joe Dante about his upcoming movie The Hole.  Discussion turned to the possibility of a new Gremlins sequel since the first two are headed to Blu-ray soon.  Dante doesn’t know if a third will happen for sure, but he promised he won’t be involved.

“I find it hard to believe that they won’t make a Gremlins 3 because they’re remaking Adventures in Babysitting. I mean, they’re gonna remake everything.  They won’t be coming to me. (Laughs) I can tell you that for a fact.”

Gremlins 2: The New Batch was pretty terrible, so hopefully Warner Bros won’t consider another.  Though Dante is right.  The way sequels and remakes are being churned out these days I wouldn’t be surprised to see the return of Gremlins to the big screen.