Baby Yoda from Gizmo character was ‘stolen’, ‘Gremlins’ director says

Gizmo is the main Mogwai character in the horror comedy, "Gremlins," and its sequel, "Gremlins 2: The New Batch," which premiered in 1990

"Gremlins" director Joe Dante said Baby Yoda, from the "Star Wars" Disney+ TV series, "The Mandalorian," was "completely stolen" from the Gizmo character

The film director said he is not planning to sue Disney and Lucasfilm, but says the Star Wars series "copied" the character from the 1984 movie

Baby Yoda was put in the first season of "The Mandalorian" as an infant version of Yoda who made his first appearance in the Star Wars film series' "The Empire Strikes Back"

Jon Favreau, creator of "The Mandalorian" said in an interview last year that Baby Yoda was inspired by E.T.

The "Gremlins" films will have a new animated series introduced this fall on HBO Max

"Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai," in which Dante is a consultant, features the voices of Ming-Na Wen, BD Wong and James Hong

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