50 free Gremlins trivia questions with answers. Gremlins arrived in the summer of 1984 as a Christmas movie with teeth: a cute mogwai, three rules nobody follows, and a small town overrun by reptilian imps. This quiz covers the whole franchise, from the spec script written in a mouse-infested loft to the 1990 sequel that turned a Manhattan skyscraper into a playground for a Brain, a bat and a very forward female gremlin, and on to the animated prequel set in 1920s Shanghai. Easy questions cover the rules, the cast and who voices Gizmo. Harder ones dig into the creature effects, the department store where the villain meets sunlight, the actor behind Mr. Wing, the toy and cereal tie-ins, the video game that closed out an Atari console, and how two Spielberg productions forced the MPAA to invent PG-13. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia and other primary pages, and the citation sits under each question, so you can settle any argument about whether Gremlins counts as a Christmas film. Built for movie nights, 80s nostalgia rounds and anyone who has ever set a clock forward to see what happens.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who directed the 1984 film Gremlins?
Joe Dante
He was hired for his horror-comedy chops after The Howling, and had come up cutting trailers for Roger Corman.
Q 02Which future Home Alone director wrote Gremlins as a spec script?
Chris Columbus
He got the idea from mice skittering around his darkened loft apartment; Spielberg bought the script in late 1981.
Q 03Rand Peltzer buys the mogwai as a Christmas present in an antique store located in which neighborhood?
Chinatown
The shop's owner refuses to sell; it is his grandson who secretly hands the creature over along with the three rules.
Q 04Which of the three mogwai rules is stressed as the most important, 'above all'?
never feed it after midnight
The other two rules cover sunlight, which kills a mogwai, and water, which makes it multiply.
Q 05What is the name of the snowy small town where Billy Peltzer works at the local bank?
Kingston Falls
The picture-postcard setting deliberately echoes It's a Wonderful Life, a clip of which appears in the film.
Q 06Which actor plays Billy Peltzer?
Zach Galligan
He was a relative unknown whom Spielberg pushed for after watching him screen-test opposite his future co-star.
Q 07Which Fast Times at Ridgemont High actress plays Billy's girlfriend Kate Beringer?
Phoebe Cates
Gremlins became the highest-grossing film of her career; she left acting in the mid-1990s and later opened a boutique.
Q 08Which country singer-songwriter plays Billy's inventor father, Randall Peltzer?
Hoyt Axton
After an introductory scene was cut, his voice was kept as the film's narrator.
Q 09The actor who plays Rand Peltzer wrote which 1971 Three Dog Night song that spent six weeks at No. 1?
Joy to the World
He also wrote The Pusher for Steppenwolf, heard on the Easy Rider soundtrack, and Greenback Dollar for the Kingston Trio.
Q 10Which comedian, later the host of Deal or No Deal, provided the voice of Gizmo?
Howie Mandel
He was starring as Dr. Wayne Fiscus on St. Elsewhere at the time and returned for the 1990 sequel.
Q 11Which prolific voice actor, famous for Scooby-Doo's Fred, voiced the gremlins' leader?
Frank Welker
He came back for the sequel to voice the new leader, Mohawk.
Q 12What is the aggressive mogwai leader, named for the white tuft on his head, called?
Stripe
In the original draft Gizmo himself was to turn into the villain, but Spielberg vetoed it because audiences would want the cute one around.
Q 13In which now-defunct department store's fountain does the lead gremlin try to spawn more of his kind?
Montgomery Ward
He had left the movie theater early to grab candy across the street, which is the only reason he survived the gas explosion.
Q 21Complaints about violence in Gremlins and which other 1984 PG film led to the PG-13 rating?
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Spielberg, connected to both films, suggested an intermediate rating and the MPAA introduced it within two months.
Q 22Which film was the first released theatrically under the new PG-13 rating in 1984?
Red Dawn
The rating was introduced on July 1, 1984, only weeks after Gremlins hit theaters with a plain PG.
Q 23Who composed the score for Gremlins, including the mischievous 'Gremlin Rag'?
Jerry Goldsmith
Q 14In her monologue about hating Christmas, Kate reveals her father died how?
he broke his neck climbing down the chimney
The director refused to cut the scene, arguing it summed up the whole film's mix of horror and holiday cheer.
Q 15Which future Goonies star plays Pete Fountaine, the kid who accidentally spills water on Gizmo?
Corey Feldman
The spill spawns five new mogwai, and the mischievous ones then sabotage Billy's bedside clock to get fed late.
Q 16What distinction does Dick Miller (Murray Futterman) hold regarding the Gremlins director's feature films?
he has a part in every one of them
Miller made more than 180 films, starting out as the murderous busboy Walter Paisley in Roger Corman's A Bucket of Blood.
Q 17How does Steven Spielberg make his cameo in Gremlins?
as a man on a recumbent bicycle
He is one of several behind-the-scenes cameos; the composer turns up in a telephone booth.
Q 18Gremlins opened in North America on June 8, 1984, the same day as which other blockbuster?
Ghostbusters
Gremlins came second that weekend with $12.5 million and both films ended up in the year's top four.
Q 19Roughly what was the production budget of Gremlins?
$11 million
It went on to gross more than $148 million domestically, making it the fourth-biggest film of 1984.
Q 20Approximately how much did Gremlins gross in its North American run?
$148 million
Add roughly $59.6 million overseas, including $17 million in Japan, and the worldwide take passed $212 million.
He won a Saturn Award for the score and, like Chuck Jones and Spielberg, sneaks into the film in a cameo.
Q 24The composer of Gremlins won his only Academy Award, from 18 nominations, for which film?
The Omen
His last completed film score was for Looney Tunes: Back in Action in 2003, also directed by the Gremlins director.
Q 25Who actually performed Gizmo's hummed song?
child actress Ilene Keys
The composer wrote the tune and asked a young acquaintance to hum it rather than Gizmo's regular voice actor.
Q 26Gremlins puppet designer Chris Walas later won a makeup Oscar for which film?
The Fly
That win led to his directing debut on The Fly II in 1989.
Q 27Which scene from the much darker original screenplay was cut before filming?
Lynn Peltzer is decapitated by gremlins
Other dropped material had the gremlins eating Billy's dog and attacking a McDonald's.
Q 28Which company produced Gremlins brand breakfast cereal in the mid-1980s?
Ralston
Ralston was the go-to maker of movie tie-in cereals in the era, cranking out boxes for Batman and Barbie too.
Q 29In the 1984 home console game based on the film, Billy catches falling mogwai to stop them eating what?
hamburgers
The second screen switches to a Space Invaders-style shootout with descending gremlins.
Q 30A Gremlins game holds the distinction of being the last game ever released for which console?
Atari 5200
It was a substantially different game from the better-known cartridge for the company's earlier console.