Long before characters like Stitch and Grogu brought large-eared cuteness to the masses, there was one fluffy little critter that captured the imagination in 1984 and became a cinema icon. Of course, we are talking about Gizmo, the lovable Mogwai every child of the 80s wanted to own despite his potential to overrun the place with hundreds of vicious and destructive gremlins. More than four decades since his introduction, and 36 years after his last movie appearance, one lover of the franchise has the chance to take home the real Gizmo – the puppet that brought him to life in Gremlins 2: The New Batch in 1990. Part of the line-up of iconic props, costumes and rarities from decades of Hollywood blockbusters featured in Goldin’s 2026 Summer Movie Prop & Memorabilia Auction, the production-used puppet is set to be one of the highlight lots and will need someone with deep pockets to take it home.
Gremlins introduced the world to Gizmo in the 1980s with a real B-movie feel, a comical horror movie that would become one of the most enduring of the decade thanks to its incredible creature effects and near-perfectly balance of director Joe Dante’s eye for horror, Chris Columbus’ impeccable script, and Steven Spielberg’s over-arching family values. In 1990, the sequel took things in a completely different direction, with a redesign of Gizmo and the creation of dozens of crazy and unique gremlins brought to life by effects master Rick Baker. The Gizmo puppet now coming to auction is one of almost 20 different versions created by Baker for the movie, most of which were specifically adapted for certain scenes. The puppet in this auction has been modified with a metal armature which allows it to be posed on the stand it comes with, and that makes it the closest thing to a real Mogwai you will ever get.
In Gremlins 2, the rough-edged Gizmo of the first movie was replaced with an almost cartoonish iteration, with smooth fur, polished and expressive facial features, and this become the most commonly used version seen on marketing and merchandise for the next three decades. The movie received mixed reviews thanks to its loose storyline built around the idea of just causing as much chaos in under two hours as possible, but it helped ingrain the franchise in pop culture for multiple generations. This makes the puppets and animatronics used in the production of the movie a guaranteed crowd-puller when they come up at auction. In the last decade, several of these props have come up for sale, and each time their value increases. This Gizmo has a starting price of $15,000, but there is strong chance it will reach much higher than that, especially with the Gremlins franchise finally heading back to the big screen.
After years of teasing, Gremlins 3 is finally in production, aiming to arrive in theaters on November 19, 2027. Original writer Columbus is directing and producing, with Spielberg executive producing with Amblin Entertainment. The script is being written by Final Destination: Bloodlines writers Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein, ensuring the horror overtones will once again be present in this highly-anticipated legacy sequel. The renewed interest in the franchise – with animated prequel series Secrets of the Mogwai having also been a recent hit – means there couldn’t be a better time for one of the puppets that turned Gizmo into a cultural phenomenon to arrive on the auction block. It may not be cheap to secure this piece of movie history, but owning a genuine Gizmo will be worth every cent to one individual when the hammer comes down in September.
