Joe Dante Says Baby Yoda, “Shamelessly… Out-And-Out Copied” ‘Gremlins’

Is this town not big enough for the both of the cute babies in the pop culture universe? You might think we’re talking about Baby Yoda and Baby Groot, but no, the director of “Gremlins” now has beef with Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars” character Grogu, aka Baby Yoda, first introduced into the galaxy in “The Mandalorian” series. That filmmaker, the legendary Joe Dante, said in a recent interview with the San Francisco Chronicle that he thinks Baby Groot “shamelessly” rip-offs his Gizmo lead creature character from his hit 1984 movie “Gremlins.”

“I think the longevity of [‘Gremlins’] is really key to this one character [Gizmo], who is essentially like a baby,” Dante told the SFC. “Which brings me, of course, to the subject of Baby Yoda, who is completely stolen and is just out-and-out copied. Shamelessly, I would think.”

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The Chronicle didn’t elaborate further on Dante’s remarks, but the writer of the article did say the filmmaker “is not one to hold a grudge” and “isn’t thinking of suing Disney and Lucasfilm.” OK, we’ll have to take their word on that one, I guess.

It all brings up a fascinating point, however, especially given the marketability and merchandising of Baby Yoda, which is everywhere. Because if you think of all the dormant franchises from the 1980s that could have spawned much more than they ever did, “Gremlins” is probably right at the top of that list next to things like “Ghostbusters” which obviously is back and fully charged, but took forever to come back, arguably far too long by Hollywood standards (27 years after “Ghostbusters II”). And of course, “Back To the Future,” which Robert Zemeckis controls enough of to stop from ever going forward, so that’s that.

But did anyone arguably f*ck up the “Gremlins” franchise harder than Joe Dante himself? He arguably could be a Steven Spielberg mogul type right now and instead is relegated to a lot of B-movie indies that have not moved the cultural needle. Now “Gremlins 2: The New Batch” is now regarded as a cult classic, but it destroyed and blew up the franchise; Dante, seemingly so bored with the idea of a proper emotional sequel to the original and its characters, that he decided instead to make a live-action episode of “Looney Tunes” instead. “Gremlins 2” is easily the wackiest franchise killer of all time. On the one hand, you have to admire Dante’s balls and chutzpah. On the other hand, he could have turned mogul, launched a massive franchise, and maybe he’d be much closer to where Speilberg is right now.

“Gremlins” is finally coming back, though. The animated “Gremlins: Secrets Of The Mogwai” features the voices of Ming-Na Wen (“The Book of Boba Fett”), BD Wong (“Jurassic World Dominion”), and James Hong (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) arrives later this year, and Dante is a consultant on the show. Though imagine he was the creator— showrunner and like Ivan Reitman was until he passed away recently—in total control of the “Ghostbusters” universe, its spin-offs, its animated plans, and more.