It seems that in recent years, commercials are more and more becoming an avenue to reunite familiar faces for fun little nostalgia throwbacks. Whether it's Bruce Willis returning as John McClane or Timothée Chalamet as the son of Edward Scissorhands in a recent Super Bowl ad, the short throwaway nature of advertising makes them perfect for small callbacks to classic media and Gremlins is the latest film to get such treatment.
One of the latest brands to take advantage of this particular strategy is Mountain Dew, which has released a new advertisement that'll be familiar to fans of classic Steven Spielberg. The advertisement is for Mountain Dew Zero Sugar, which is a fairly self-explanatory product, and features actor Zach Galligan returning as Billy Peltzer, the protagonist of Gremlins.
Gremlins, for the uninitiated, was a 1984 comedy-horror film directed by Joe Dante and follows the story of Billy shortly after he receives a strange pet called a Mogwai. The pet comes with a series of strange and unusual rules that must be followed, one of them being to never feed the creature after midnight. Of course, that very thing ends up happening by accident, and it causes the mogwai to duplicate, spawning more of themselves. The group of creatures swiftly prove themselves to be the troublemaking sort and begin to get into all sorts of dangerous behavior that the protagonist must put a stop to.
The Mountain Dew ad, titled "Rule #4: Must Be Refreshing After Midnight", follows in the same footsteps, with Billy drinking a bottle of Zero Sugar Mountain Dew before offering a sip to his mogwai friend. The mogwai, of course, manages to spill the soda all over himself, beginning the process of duplication and frustrating Billy and his teenage daughter.
Overall, the ad is a pleasant throwback to the original film and the special effects are certainly a step up from the first Gremlins film, making the whole thing a charming little nostalgia trip for fans of the original. Not to mention the fact that Zach Galligan seems to slide quite naturally back into the role of Billy Peltzer. While there is still an animated Gremlins spin-off in the works, this commercial can hopefully tide over longtime fans until Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai is finally available.
Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai is expected to be released in 2021 on HBO Max.
Source: Mountain Dew/Youtube