Although for a while it seemed like Sony had finally started to agree with what the rest of the world was thinking – namely that making a live action version of The Smurfs was a bad idea – the project has now popped up again with the studio setting a US release date of December 17th, 2010 for the film’s release. Not only that, but the movie will be in 3D, so you can see even more of the little blue men.
While a live action Smurfs might seem like a disaster waiting to happen, the project was initially announced just after Alvin And The Chiupmunks hit cinemas. That movie wasn’t expected to do much at the box office but ended up grossing ober $360 million around the world, making it one of the 10 highest grossing movies of 2007. After that it’s little surprise other studios have been looking to dust off old kid’s cartoons with an eye to a big screen version. Even Spielberg and Peter Jackson have got in on the action with their Tintin films .
There’s no news yet on the plot for the film, although we’re willing to bet it’ll be about some kids discovering the little blue forest dwelling creatures, learning some valuable life lessons (probably about how being different isn’t a bad thing), and fighting off the evil Gargamel.
Sony is hoping the movie, which will be penned by the writers of Shrek 2 and Shrek The Third, will become a full-on film franchise, but we’ll have to see whether they can make a decent first flick yet.
To be honest though, 3D computer generated Smurfs sound a bit scary to us.