1. While Gremlins has over the years become a classic Christmas movie (due to its Christmas time setting), it was actually a summer movie.
2. Gizmo was voiced by Howie Mandel.
3. Stripe was voiced by Frank Welker, who is best known for voicing Fred Jones on Scooby-Doo, Megatron on Transformers, and Kermit on Muppet Babies.
4. Each animatronic gremlin cost between $30,000 to $40,000 each.
5. During filming, Phoebe Cates (who played Kate) was scared of the animatronic gremlins and would stay away from them as much as possible.
6. The original script was much darker. Originally in the scene where Billy's mom investigates the strange noises in the attic she is decapitated by the gremlins and her head is tossed down the stairs and discovered by Billy.
7. The fictional town of Kingston Falls is the same set used as Hill Valley in Back to the Future.
8. Judge Reinhold (who played the small supporting role of Gerald) actually co-starred in biggest film of that year, Beverly Hills Cop.
9. Gremlins was also the second film that both Reinhold and Cates appeared in. The first was Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
10. Before becoming an actor, Hoyt Axton, who played Billy's dad Rand, was a well known folk music singer-songwriter. He is best known for writing Three Dog Night's No. 1 hit single, "Joy to the World."
11. In a deleted scene, Billy and Kate discover how truly evil Mrs. Deagle is.
12. While trying to impress kids at his real-life school, Corey Feldman (who played Pete), brought a piece of mogwai fur to school. The kids just made fun of him and yelled. “What the hell is mogwai fur?" while throwing spitballs at him.
13. Tim Burton almost directed the film, but was eventually passed over because he had never directed a film.
14. Kate's infamous "there is no Santa Claus" monologue was seen as too dark and was almost cut from the film.
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Fortunately the film's producer, Steven Spielberg, stepped in and convinced the studio to keep it in.
15. Gremlins and Indiana Jones (both Spielberg films) were responsible for the creation of the PG-13 rating system. Both films, while rated PG, contained lots of violence, but not enough to warrant an R rating.
