Josh Gad reunites cast of 'The Goonies' to raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts

By Megan Stone

Video by Brittany Berkowitz

It's been almost 35 years since "The Goonies" hit the big screen and super fan Josh Gad is making sure the original cast celebrates the movie's coral anniversary together. In addition, the nostalgia-packed reunion helped raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts.

Reuniting for the first time in more than 30 years, Gad threw a socially distanced party, dubbed "Reunion Apart with Josh Gad," on Monday featuring the movie's stars Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Corey Feldman, Kerri Green, Martha Plimpton, Jeff Cohen, Ke Huy Quan, Robert Davi and Joe Pantoliano.

However, Gad went a step beyond and made the reunion complete by also inviting executive producer Steven Speilberg -- who wrote the story "The Goonies" was based on -- director Richard Donner, screenwriter Chris Columbus and the singer of the movie's theme, Cyndi Lauper.

The reunion doubled as a fundraiser for The Center for Disaster Philanthropy, which is supporting those hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ultra-nostalgic episode saw the stars chat about how they're handling quarantine and, overall, allowed the "Beauty and the Beast" star to nerd out over his favorite movie. He also challenged the cast to recite their more famous lines.

Along the way, Gad also learned a few cool tidbits about the movie, such as Donner admitting he was originally going to set the movie in Ohio, not Oregon.

Josh Gad/You Tube

Josh Gad reunited the cast of "Goonies" to raise money for COVID-19 relief efforts on a Zoom call.

Of course, the discussion naturally gravitated toward the prospect of there ever being a "Goonies" sequel, with Spielberg revealing that they'd only do one if they can write a script better than the original.

The episode officially kicks off Gad's new weekly YouTube series, which will bring together cast members from some of the biggest movies in cinema history.

As for why he choose "The Goonies" to kick everything off, it's because that's the movie that shaped his childhood.