'Gremlins' Director Says Baby Yoda Is A "Shameless Copy"

Lately, Star Wars has found itself in a bit of a rut. Don’t get me wrong, they’ve been putting out some enjoyable series but you cannot deny that we seem to keep treading old ground. It’s almost as if Tatooine is the only planet to exist in the Star Wars universe, and as much as I love Obi-Wan and Boba Fett, it would be nice to see a new character arise every now and then.

Fresh ideas are always welcomed by fans. You need look no further than the very popular The Mandalorian to see that, for which a brand new trailer leaked online this week. Whilst we all love Din Djarin, Grogu’s scenes - or Baby Yoda for the uninitiated - are hands down the best thing about the show. It’s impossible to hate on Grogu, or so we thought. It turns out that the director of Gremlins isn’t a fan.

Speaking of Star Wars, check out the trailer for Star Wars: Andor below. The show is set to debut on Disney Plus on 31 August.

Director of 1984’s Gremlins and the 1990 sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Joe Dante, recently called Grogu a “shameless copy” of one particular Gremlin called Gizmo. The duo do share equally adorable glistening eyes and big ears but I’d hardly call it an original design.

Anyway, Dante wasn’t best impressed with Jon Favreau’s creation. The director told the San Francisco Chronicle, “I think the longevity of [the film] is really key to this one character (Gizmo), who is essentially like a baby, 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.”

The thing is, surely Grogu was created by imagining what Yoda - and his species - would look like as a baby, and Yoda first hopped on to the pop culture scene in 1980 which totally debunks Dante’s theory, but there you have it.