‘Gremlins’ Director Slams Baby Yoda as ‘Completely Stolen’ and ‘Shamelessly’ Copied

variety.com:

Zack Sharf A beef is brewing between Baby Yoda and the Gremlins. Filmmaker Joe Dante, who popularized the Gremlins with his 1984 horror-comedy and its 1990 sequel, recently told the San Francisco Chronicle (via IndieWire) that Baby Yoda is nothing but a shameless ripoff of the eponymous creatures, particularly the lead Gremlin named Gizmo.“I think the longevity of [the film] is really key to this one character (Gizmo), who is essentially like a baby,” Dante told the publication. “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.”Baby Yoda debuted in the pilot episode of Disney and Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars” streaming series “The Mandalorian.” The adorable creature’s presence helped the show break the pop culture zeitgeist over its first two seasons, the second of which revealed that Grogu is the real name of Baby Yoda.

The “Gremlins” franchise is returning this fall thanks to the HBO Max animated series “Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai,” which Dante served as a consultant on.

The series features a voice cast that includes “The Mandalorian” star Ming-Na Wen (“The Book of Boba Fett”), BD Wong and James Hong.