Leonard Maltin appears as himself repeating his criticisms of Gremlins (1984) while he holds a video version of the movie. However, his rant is cut short when gremlins pounce on him as a result. In his annual Movie Guide, he gave this movie three stars (out of a possible four) and refers to this scene as a "gratuitous cameo," though he doesn't say he's actually in the movie.
The uplifting end of the world video scene was included by the filmmakers when they found out that one of the news networks actually had such a video prepared to run in case of the end of the world. CNN has a video for this purpose in its archive, and its staff are instructed to "hold the video for release until the end of the world is confirmed."
The filmmakers chose John Rambo as the character that Gizmo was going to imitate in this movie. Sylvester Stallone gave his permission.
The opening aerial shot of New York City was stock footage from Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987).
In a deleted scene, the Gremlins release all of the animals in the "Splice o' Life" lab. During the filming of this scene, the monkeys in the lab set were genuinely so terrified of the Gremlin puppets, that they refused to leave their cages when their trainers called for them.
Jerry Goldsmith: Alongside his wife Carol Heather Goldsmith, as customers at the frozen yogurt counter.