Gremlins 3 has been one of the most in-demand sequels in recent cinematic history, but will the project ever actually happen? Starting with the release of 1984’s Gremlins, the iconic ’80s franchise follows a young man named Billy Peltzer who is gifted a strange creature known as a Mogwai. Chaos ensues soon after when Billy fails to heed the strict rules of owning such a creature, and a roving band of Gremlins invades his sleepy town around Christmas. Noted for its eye-popping mechanical effects and director Joe Dante’s black humor, Gremlins quickly became an archetypal ’80s classic.

Amid a slew of ripoffs like the Ghoulies and Critters franchises, a lone Gremlins sequel was released in 1990, subtitled The New Batch. While the sequel has since become a cult classic and revered for its skewering of vapid ’80s culture and the rise of technology, it failed to move the needle both critically and financially and put an end to the burgeoning franchise. In the more than three decades since, fans have been clamoring for more Gremlins, and with the rise of ’80s legacy sequels, the time has never been better for Gremlins 3 to take shape.