20 Movies That Took HUGE Risks (And NAILED It)
9. Making A Parody Sequel - Gremlins 2: The New Batch
Gremlins 2: The New Batch is an extreme rarity in Hollywood - a carte blanche sequel in which a filmmaker was given all the money and resources to basically do whatever the hell they wanted without studio interference.
That was director Joe Dante's demand to Warner Bros. if he was going to return to direct the Gremlins sequel, and desperate for a follow-up from the master filmmaker, they handed him triple the first film's budget and total freedom to do with it what he saw fit.
The result was, in Dante's own words, "one of the more unconventional studio pictures, ever" - a sequel that effectively functions as a parody of the original Gremlins, making light of its inconsistent internal logic, breaking the fourth wall, and basically serving as a thinly-veiled excuse for a whole ton of practical effects mayhem.
It would've been easy for Gremlins 2 to be an abject mess, then, but it's shocking just how well it holds together as a ludicrously entertaining sequel that builds on what came before.
Warner Bros. might have a different view of it, though, considering that the film was a massive box office flop.
Time has at least been kind to it, and it remains one of the most brilliantly fearless sequels ever produced by Hollywood.