'Gremlins' director derides Baby Yoda as a Gizmo knockoff

‘Gremlins’ director derides Baby Yoda as ‘out-and-out copied’ from Gizmo

A small green creature with oversize ears and a brown robe peeks around a corner

July 15, 2022 1:28 PM PT

“Gremlins” director Joe Dante might be the only person who doesn’t like Baby Yoda.

Maybe it was some spilled water, or maybe a little midnight snack, but either way Dante came at little Grogu with some fighting words while speaking with the San Francisco Chronicle.

Dante expressed disdain for the cuddly breakout star of “The Mandalorian,” calling him a knockoff of his 1984 horror-comedy classic’s occasionally adorable main character, Gizmo.

“I think the longevity of [the “Gremlins” franchise] is really key to this one character [Gizmo], who is essentially like a baby,” Dante said in the article published Wednesday. “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.”

While Gizmo and his fellow Mogwai — the name of the nice, cute version of the Gremlins — never reached the intergalactic ubiquity of Baby Yoda, they were a sensation in their own right. The original 1984 film was both a commercial and critical hit, grossing more than $200 million against its $11 million budget and garnering positive reviews from the late movie critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.

This success led to a 1990 sequel, “Gremlins 2: The New Batch,” which was also directed by Dante, but the second film received some less-than-favorable reviews.

Dante’s Baby Yoda comments came in the run-up to the latest installment of the “Gremlins” franchise, “Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai.” The animated series, which premieres this fall on HBO Max, will include the vocal talents of Baby Yoda’s “The Mandalorian” co-star Ming-Na Wen, along with BD Wong and James Hong.

Speaking on the legacy of “Gremlins,” Dante noted the film series’ peculiarity as the main reason new generations continue to find joy in the movies.

“Whenever I host a screening of either of these pictures, I always ask when I introduce it, ‘Raise your hand — how many people haven’t seen these movies?’ There’s always about a third of the audience, usually young, who haven’t seen the movies,” Dante said. “They’re somewhat different than the run-of-the-mill movie. They’re offbeat in a way that I think is one of the reasons that they’re still popular.”

Baby Yoda will return in Season 3 of “The Mandalorian,” which is set to premiere in February on Disney+.