Smurfs Debuting Sleepy Hollow “Mini Move” in September

Well after the smashing success disappointing, yet somewhat expected, 3rd place box-office performance of Smurfs 2, Sony Pictures Animation has decided to bring us more Smurfs! This time it’s a 22-minute “mini-movie” (um, I think we just call those shorts) called The Smurfs: The Legend Of Smurfy Hollow.

The Smurfs: The Legend Of Smurfy Hollow will be a 3D CGI/2D animated film that will be directed by Stephan Franck (animator on The Iron Giant, Osmosis Jones, Space Jam) and produced by Mary Ellen Bauder (Cloudy with a Chance Of Meabtalls, Hotel Transylvania). The story will be faithful to the original Peyo Smurfs comics and will have the “Smurfs learn the value of friendship and family.”

Here’s the plot synopsis:

When Brainy Smurf is favored to win the annual Smurfberry Hunt for the ninth year in a row, Gutsy Smurf sets out to discover how Brainy wins every year. Gutsy’s investigation takes him into spooky Smurfy Hollow – and right into Gargamel’s trap! Can Brainy and Gutsy, with the help of Smurfette, put aside their rivalry before Gargamel captures them, or worse, will they come face-to-face with the legendary ghost, the Headless Horseman?

According to the press release, The Smurfs: The Legend Of Smurfy Hollow has already “received critical and audience acclaim” since playing at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival last month. (Critical acclaim? Really? I certainly hadn’t heard anything about it).

Obviously Sony thought that Smurfs 2 would be an easy home run, especially since the original Smurfs film was a juggernaut, making $563 million worldwide. So making more shorts and even a Smurfs 3 movie, which has been in development for over a year already, seemed like the obvious next step. It’ll be interesting to see if Smurfs 3 even ends up making it to theatres.

The Smurfs: The Legend Of Smurfy Hollow is rated G and will be released on DVD on September 10. It also will have a TV debut at a later day. You can pre-order the film here on Amazon.

Are you going to watch this “mini movie”? How do you feel about the expansion of the Smurfs franchise?

via Indiewire