One of the previously-announced HBO Max projects that we assumed was long dead was the animated series Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, which was announced with major fanfare when the service debuted a while back. It seemed to be one of those buzzy established-IP-centric projects that was just doomed to the kind of streaming stillbirth once the appropriate headlines were accrued (look at what Netflix, for instance, has done with all their video game properties), but guess what? Sometimes things, despite your parent company flirting with bankruptcy, manage to come through and at that same Max presentation that showed off the first footage from The Penguin, Warner Bros. debuted the first teaser for the Gremlins prequel. Get ready to be overwhelmed by how cute this Gizmo is.
Peep it:
Here’s a synopsis via Deadline:
“‘Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai’ takes viewers back to 1920s Shanghai where the Wing family first meets the young Mogwai called Gizmo. Sam Wing (future shop owner Mr. Wing in the 1984 ‘Gremlins’ film) accepts the dangerous task to take Gizmo home and embarks on a journey through the Chinese countryside. Sam and Gizmo are joined by a teenage street thief named Elle, and together, they encounter—and sometimes battle—colorful monsters and spirits from Chinese folklore. Along their quest, they are pursued by a power-hungry industrialist and his growing army of evil Gremlins.”
Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai will hit Max on the same day that the rebranded service will launch: May 23. That’s also when Shazam 2 will hit the streamer, and based on the box office receipts and how quickly that motherfucker fled theaters, we’re betting that you probably didn’t catch that one at the multiplex. So, that Tuesday might be a good time to grab the kids on a pre-summer school night and do some binge-watching.