Im only saying this as a warning to people who grew up watching a lot of 70's and 80's horror films. We've watched helplessly as Hollywood has decided to redux every last one of them. Face it, it's only a matter of time before this gets remade too, so enjoy it while you can. And if it does get the remake treatment, boycott it!
Regarding the alligator being CGI, in this day and time, filmmaker's tend not to want to create large animatronic creatures. The larger the animatronic, the typically more advanced and expensive it will cost.
If they did remake the film, yeah the alligator would be CGI. But, we've had Lake Placid, Primeval and Rogue recently, all of which have featured CGI crocodiles mixed with animatronics. The best you would get would be a combination between CGI alligators and animatronic alligators.
I'm getting sick of 3D too. Every now and then is fine, but not every other movie that comes out. Next thing you know, Billy Madison will have a 20th anniversary re-release in 3D *sarcasm*