It’s official, that Gremlins remake is officially happening. Warner Bros has just tapped Goosebumps writer Carl Ellsworth (The Last House on the Left, Red Dawn) to pen the script for the remake. Chris Columbus, who wrote the original film, will help produce the remake alongside Steven Spielberg, who executive produced the original film.

A few months back there was thought that the film was dead in its tracks. However, the recent hirings indicate that the film is back on. Hit the jump for more.

Deadline reports that with the writing and producing team set up, Warner Bros. is considering making an offer to Columbus to direct the film as well. But the report also says that “studio insiders say that’s not in the cards at this point.” No word yet on who else the studio may be considering to direct the remake. The first draft of the film was written by Seth Grahame-Smith (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies), who was also on board as a producer, and based on the report, it sounds like Ellsworth won’t be rewriting Grahame-Smith’s draft but instead starting fresh from scratch.

The original film centered on a young man receiving a Christmas gift in the form of a cute and cuddly creature named Gizmo. But owning him came with a set of rules: keep him out of sunlight, which will kill him; do not expose him to water, which will result in him multiplying; and never ever feed him after midnight, which will lead to him transforming into a nasty little creature that will wreak havoc. Not much time passed before one of these rules — getting Gizmo wet — is accidentally broken, which leads to a litter of new mogwai, who eat after midnight, become nasty gremlins, and continue to break these rules until there’s an army of them unleashing anarchy on the small town.

A sequel, Gremlins: A New Batch, was released in 1984.

[Source: Deadline]