Editing Gremlins (section)

=== Box office ===
[[File:Joe Dante 66ème Festival de Venise (Mostra) 2.jpg|upright|thumb|Director [[Joe Dante]] acknowledged some parents were upset after taking their children to see ''Gremlins'' in theaters.]]
Financially, ''Gremlins'' was a success. Produced on an $11 million budget, it was more expensive than Spielberg had originally intended but still relatively cheap for its time.<ref name="DVD" /> The [[Trailer (film)|trailer]] introduced the film to audiences by briefly explaining that Billy receives a strange creature as a Christmas present, by going over the three rules, and then coming out with the fact that the creatures transform into terrible monsters.<ref>{{Citation |title=Gremlins (1984) Official Trailer #1 - Horror Comedy |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBEVwaJEgaA |access-date=2023-12-25 |language=en}}</ref> This trailer showed little of either the ''mogwai'' or the gremlins.<ref>{{cite AV media |date=2002 |title=Steven Spielberg presents ''Gremlins'' Special edition: Theatrical Trailers |medium=DVD |publisher=Warner Home Video}}</ref> In contrast to this, other advertisements concentrated on Gizmo, overlooked the gremlins, and made the film look similar to Spielberg's earlier family film ''[[E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial]]'' (1982).<ref name="PG-13">{{Cite news |last=Breznican |first=Anthony |date=March 31, 2011 |title=PG-13 remade Hollywood ratings system |work=[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]] |url=https://www.seattlepi.com/ae/movies/article/PG-13-remade-Hollywood-ratings-system-1152332.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128223908/https://www.seattlepi.com/ae/movies/article/PG-13-remade-Hollywood-ratings-system-1152332.php |archive-date=November 28, 2020}}</ref>

''Gremlins'' was released into North American theaters on June 8, 1984, the same day as Ivan Reitman's ''[[Ghostbusters]]''. ''Gremlins'' ranked second, with $12.5 million in its first weekend, $1.1 million less than ''Ghostbusters''. By the end of its American screenings on November 29, it had grossed $148,168,459 domestically. This made it the fourth highest-grossing film of the year, behind ''[[Beverly Hills Cop]]'', ''[[Ghostbusters]]'', and ''[[Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom]]''.<ref name="box office">{{cite web | title=Gremlins | url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3126298113/weekend/ | work=[[Box Office Mojo]] | access-date=April 30, 2006 | archive-date=December 13, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181213083855/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=gremlins.htm | url-status=live }}</ref> In August 1984, it opened in Argentina and Spain, and in October it premiered in [[West Germany]]. Screenings began in Mexico, Australia, and much of the rest of Europe in December.<ref>"[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087363/releaseinfo Release dates for Gremlins] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170317015755/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087363/releaseinfo |date=March 17, 2017 }}" [[IMDb]].com, URL accessed May 11, 2006.</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=IMDb is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=May 2023}} Since ''Gremlins'' had an international audience, different versions of the film were made to overcome cultural barriers. Mandel learned to speak his few intelligible lines, such as "Bright light!", in various languages, including German. Regional music and humor were also incorporated into foreign-language versions. Dante credited this work as being one of the factors which helped to make ''Gremlins'' a worldwide success.<ref name="DVD" /> However, many critics questioned the summer release date of the film in America, as the film takes place during the Christmas holiday season, causing them to comment that it should have had a Christmas release date instead.{{Citation needed|reason=you should cite a critic that made this comment|date=January 2022}}

In addition to this, there were also complaints from audiences about the violence depicted in the film. These complaints were particularly present in people who had brought their children to see the film, many of whom walked out of the theater before the film had ended.{{Citation needed|reason=where is any evidence anyone walked out of the film let alone that many did|date=January 2022}} Dante admitted to reporters later that "the idea of taking a 4-year-old to see ''Gremlins'', thinking it's going to be a cuddly, funny animal movie and then seeing that it turns into a horror picture, I think people were upset... They felt like they had been sold something family friendly and it wasn't entirely family friendly".<ref name="PG-13" />

The film became available to audiences again when it was brought back to theaters on August 30, 1985. This additional release brought its gross up to $153,083,102, making it [[Warner Bros.]]’ most successful film at the time, a record that stood until ''[[Batman (1989 film)|Batman]]'' surpassed it in 1989.<ref name="box office" />

By February 1985, the film had grossed $59.6 million internationally, including $17 million in Japan.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Daily Variety]]|title='Gremlins' Hits In Int'l Marts|page=43|date=February 15, 1985}}</ref> It grossed a further $0.2 million in 2019,<ref name="box office" /> taking its worldwide gross to over $212.9 million.