SMURFS Gets a Reboot and Genndy Tartakovsky Is Back for HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 2
Those Smurf movies are awful. Not even my kids liked them. The good news is Sony Pictures Animation has decided not to make a Smurfs 3. The bad news is they plan on rebooting the whole franchise and starting fresh.
The studio has hired Shrek 2 and Gnomeo & Juliet director Kelly Asbury to helm the animated film that is said to include all new designs and environments. Deadline also reports that it "will focus on the origins of the little blue creatures," and that new film will "be closer to creator Peyo’s original artwork."
A Smurfs 3 would probably do just as well as a Smurfs reboot at the box office. I guess maybe they think taking out the live-action aspect of the film will make it more appealing to audiences. The first two films brought in a combined $910 million worldwide, so it makes sense that they would want to stay on the money train and make another one. I just won't be seeing it.
The studio will release the reboot on the August 2015 date they had planned to release Smurfs 3.
It was also announced that Sony Pictures’ animation is bringing back Genndy Tartakovsky to direct Hotel Transylvania 2, which will be released in September 2015. Adam Sandler will be back to star, and he is co-writing the script with Robert Smigel. Tartakovsky is also developing Sony’s CG Popeye pic and his own original idea, which is described as a "fantastic journey through one boy’s imagination."