Earlier this month, we reported that the Gremlins reboot is finally back on track, with Carl Ellsworth (Goosebumps) coming on board to write the screenplay. That report also revealed that Steven Spielberg will executive produce alongside original Gremlins screenwriter Chris Columbus. /Film recently spoke with Chris Columbus while promoting his new film Pixels, where he confirmed that he is involved, and revealed why he came back for the reboot, when he wasn't involved in the original sequel, 1990's Gremlins 2: The New Batch.

"I am involved. Initially I remember back in '84-'85 when they approached me and said, do you wanna write the sequel and I said, this is before the obsession with franchises. So my feeling was no. We've told the story, that was that's 1980's thinking. And then suddenly all these years later, we were approached with an idea that really sounded like an interesting version. It's not a remake of the movie at all. It's a, it's just a reinvention of it."

When asked if this new Gremlins would feature any characters from the original, Chris Columbus didn't offer any specifics, but compared their approach to the new trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, teasing that this new version will have a connection to the original.

Maybe. I mean, one thing I learned from the Star Wars trailer is - and actually, we knew this all along and J.J.'s been doing it and really doing it effectively, beautifully is touching into that emotional connection we have with our past. And he did it with Star Trek, just by casting Leonard Nimoy in that role in that movie, and really having that connection. So when I saw the Star Wars trailer and saw Chewie and Han Solo at the end of the trailer, I was, it was emotional. And that's what everybody wanted for the past 30 years. We had wanted that. So for me, I would wanna get involved if we could create some sort of emotional connection even though it's a new story."

What that "emotional connection" could be is unclear, but perhaps he means there could be references to the original Gremlins such as Gizmo, the nefarious Spike, or even the original movie's star Zach Galligan, who played young Billy Peltzer in both 1984's Gremlins and the 1990 sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch. What do you think about these new details? Let us know what you think below, and stay tuned for more on the Gremlins reboot.