Facing copyright problems and realizing that the Air Ministry's "Clause 12" in the original film contract would restrict the studio, Walt Disney, who had a personal interest in "The Gremlins", reluctantly began to "wind down" the project. By August 1943, Disney had even reconsidered an animated "short" based on "The Gremlins" and indicated to Dahl by correspondence that further work would not continue. After a year of story conferences and related research, Dahl realized that his book would be the only tangible product emanating from the aborted film.