The classic monster movie Gremlins features many hidden Easter eggs. The 1984 release was a collaboration between director Joe Dante, who is known for his dark comedy, and Steven Spielberg, who produced the film. Given their close working relationship, Dante paid homage to Spielberg throughout the movie, from an Indiana Jones parody to a cameo from the prolific director himself. Some of them are hidden in plain sight, but others are much harder to spot.

References to Spielberg aren't the only Easter eggs in Gremlins, though as tons of iconic old movies are also given nods. One clever scene set at a scientific invention convention is a treasure trove of homages, with multiple classic cinema Easter eggs appearing in a single shot. Even a theater marquis with seemingly fake movie titles has some infamous history behind them. It's hard to believe that Gremlins was almost rated R given its affinity for family adventure movies. Nevertheless, Gremlins has rapid thrill-per-minute pacing, and that's no different when it comes to the copious amount of Easter eggs.

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Looney Tunes Animator Chuck Jones Makes A Cameo

Chuck Jones Gremlins Cameo

Joe Dante is well-known to be a huge fan of Looney Tunes, and he paid homage to the series of animated shorts by featuring director Chuck Jones in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo in Gremlins. Jones's own 1949 Looney Tunes cartoon For Scent-imental Reasons, starring Pepe Le Pew, plays on a TV at the bar at the same time, too. A cameo from one of the animators who are most synonymous with Looney Tunes couldn't be more fitting, as the animated and lively characters from the series share a lot of personality traits with the zany gremlins, and the movie's comedic violence owes a lot to those cartoons as well.

Rockin' Ricky Rialto Billboard

gremlins-rockin-ricky-rialto

Gremlins wastes no time in dropping movie references, as a billboard for Rockin' Ricky Rialto, who has an uncanny likeness to Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, can be seen in the very opening shot. The orange and yellow font on the advertisement is also obviously modeled after the style of Raiders of the Lost Ark. While it's easy to mistake the billboard for a parody movie poster for an Indiana Jones knock-off, Rockin' Ricky Rialto is actually a radio DJ, and the billboard is an ad for his show. That isn't a whip that he's holding; it's a microphone.

An Indiana Jones Easter egg was the most obvious way to reference Steven Spielberg at the time, as Raiders of the Lost Ark was a huge success just a few years earlier. Spielberg was even directing Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom at the same time Gremlins was in production. Also, Indiana Jones changed drastically between the two movies, and Temple of Doom was much darker and more aligned with the humor of Gremlins than the exciting globe-trotting of its predecessor. That the homage arrived only three years after Indiana Jones was introduced to the world showcases how the character instantly became iconic in the '80s.

Movie Theater Marquee

gremlins-movie-theater-marquee-watch-skies-boys-life

Two more Spielberg-related Easter eggs quickly follow the Rockin' Ricky Rialto billboard in Gremlins. A movie theater marquee showcases the titles of two fictional movies, A Boy's Life and Watch the Skies, but they aren't totally made up. A Boy's Life was the working title for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Watch the Skies was the working title for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, two of Spielberg's biggest hits. While it's another fun little nod to the filmmaker who helped Gremlins get made, the marquee titles also might have a deeper meaning. The mogwai and gremlins don't have an origin, but these fake titles hint that they might be aliens.

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Robby The Robot

Gremlins Robby Robot

Robby the Robot might not be all that familiar today, but the character was a famous element of the classic 1956 science fiction film Forbidden Planet. The robot can be found in Gremlins, too, as he appears by the phone booth in the convention center where Randall is making a call. Randall is at an invention convention, and it's assumed that Robby the Robot is one of the scientists' inventions. There isn't any clear connection between Gremlins and The Forbidden Planet, but the cameo makes for a great gag when Robby the Robot is distracting Randall from the phone call as he bangs on the booth.

The Time Machine

Gremlins Time Machine Easter egg

Long before the Spielberg-produced Back to the Future brought time-travel movies successfully into the mainstream, the 1960 H.G. Wells adaptation The Time Machine did an incredible job of exploring the sci-fi concept. The film's titular vehicle can also be spotted in the convention center in Gremlins, and it's the basis for the best background gag in the whole movie. As Randall is on the phone, a scientist can be seen in the time machine behind him. Following a cut to a close-up of Randall, the movie returns to the wide shot, which reveals the time machine has vanished.

The E.T. Doll

Gremlins ET Doll

Though E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial has an under-the-radar reference with its working title on the marquee, Gremlins more overtly references one of the best Steven Spielberg movies later in the story. As the gremlins' leader, Stripe, hides in a department store, he vanishes among shelves of stuffed toys. There are Looney Tunes dolls such as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, which is another reference to Dante's favorite old cartoons, plus an E.T. doll can be found in the middle of them all. This Easter egg is more than just a spot for the doll cameo, though, as it also recalls the scene in E.T. where the titular alien similarly hides among stuffed toys.

Steven Spielberg Cameo

Gremlins Steven Spielberg Cameo

The third Easter egg in the convention center scene can again be found when Randall is on the phone, in the same shot as the time machine. Steven Spielberg can be seen for a split second as he zooms in and out of frame in an electric wheelchair. Spielberg is no stranger to fun cameos, as he heavily uses them in his own movies, too (see David Lynch's cameo in The Fabelmans), but none have been this cheeky. Gremlins is one big Spielberg shrine, as it lifts the filmmaker's trademark techniques when it isn't straight-up referencing his movies. It only makes sense that the director gets an Alfred-Hitchcock-like walk-on cameo.

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Movie Posters In Billy's Room

Gremlins Road Warrior Poster

Billy's bedroom is another treasure trove full of Easter eggs, as a couple of notable movie posters can be seen hidden in the corners of the attic. One is for The Road Warrior, the seminal 1981 dystopian action movie. However, that doesn't have as much of a connection to Gremlins as the poster for Twilight Zone: The Movie, which can also be seen in the room. The 1983 anthology horror movie is made up of four different stories, each directed by a different filmmaker, including Joe Dante and Steven Spielberg. Though Twilight Zone: The Movie was plagued with tragedy, their two entries are by far the most entertaining.

Gremlins Saying "Phone Home"

Gremlins

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is referenced a third time when one of the gremlins clearly says "phone home," E.T.'s famous quote. The gremlins are completely unintelligible and rarely even try to speak English, but this line is as clear as day. Though it's probably nothing more than a fun little Easter egg, the gremlins using E.T.'s iconic one-liner is another hint that they're extraterrestrial beings. However, while a wild theory suggests that E.T. is an intergalactic time-traveling alien, it's extremely unlikely that the gremlins will ever be found in the Senate pods in the Star Wars franchise like E.T. was. As it remains, the gremlins' origin is unknown.

The AMC Gremlin

Gremlins AMC Gremlin Car

In The Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne drives a Lamborghini Murciélago, and "murciélago" is "bat" in Italian, which alludes to his alter ego as Batman. That's pretty clever, but Joe Dante pulled off the trick more than 20 years earlier. The first car that appears in Gremlins is a 1973 AMC Gremlin, foreshadowing what the mogwai will turn into. Only real car geeks will get it, but that's what makes it such a perfect wink. While Billy's snowy street appears in a Christmas episode of the sitcom, an even better Gremlins Easter egg in That '70s Show would've been a shot of an AMC Gremlin, given that the timelines match up.

Flashdance

Gremlins Flashdance costume

Though they're both entertaining, nostalgia-filled '80s movies, Flashdance and Gremlins have absolutely nothing in common. One is a romantic drama and the other is a horror comedy. However, one Gremlin connects the two movies, as he's dressed in Jennifer Beal's iconic outfit from the Flashdance party scene. While the gag seems like it was conjured out of nowhere, it's actually a tribute to Michael Sembello, a composer who worked on both movies. The musician wrote both "Gremlins... Mega Madness" for Gremlins and "Maniac" for Flashdance. This is ironic given that "Maniac" is a song about somebody killing people, so it could have worked even better in Gremlins.

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