In the last couple of weeks we got some fun and exciting new information about Sony Animation’s upcoming Untitled Smurfs Film (Better known as The Smurfs 3). Director Kelly Asbury recently started a blog on Tumblr to allow fans to follow the latest updates surrounding the project. He posted some new concept art from the film and an announcement saying that the film is no longer releasing in 2015, but rather has been pushed back to 2016.
On his blog, Asbury posted an announcement saying that the movie will neither be a sequel nor prequel, but instead a whole new adventure featuring the characters we love from Peyo’s The Smurfs. He also announced that the team working on this film is busy with “re-imagining of the Smurf universe”. Sony already announced that this film won’t feature any live-action actors like the first two movies did and that it will tell the origin story of the little blue creatures, does this mean Sony Animation is redesigning everything including the characters? Read Kelsey’s full announcement and see a little Smurfs drawing he made below:
”I’m happy to report that I’ve gotten confirmation from Sony Pictures Entertainment that my UNTITLED SMURFS MOVIE has a new release date: it will be coming out internationally in July 2016 and in the USA on August 5, 2016, one year later than originally planned when this project was initially conceived as a live action / animation hybrid SMURFS 3. This is a great thing for my team and me, since we are performing such a major re-imagining of the Smurf universe into a more Peyo look. We have lots of story, visual development, character designs and rigs, environments, assets, props…everything…and we need this added new production time to “get all our Smurfs in a row” and make the best movie possible.
Remember, this is not a sequel nor a prequel. It’s a whole NEW Smurf adventure! As a director, I’m very grateful to be given the proper time to make the movie I want to make and not have to compromise the quality on any front. Most all animated features, especially those from major studios, require at least 3 – 4 years to make (some far longer), and while this Smurfs movie will still be on a faster track than most, I’m really happy Sony has made this important decision. Quality is a huge priority and it is no small task to achieve, especially on an animated feature.
This all new Smurfs movie deserves the best, and Sony obviously knows and respects that.
So onward and Smurfward to summer 2016!
– KA”
As someone who grew up watching The Smurfs cartoons, I was very disappointed in Sony Animation’s The Smurfs. So disappointed in fact, that I haven’t watched The Smurfs 2 yet. Upon reading this announcement, I’m getting more excited for this third movie since it’s going to be more of a classical Smurfs adventure. The first two movies had stylized character designs that fit into a more realistic human world, so hopefully Sony will throw away the old designs and models of the Smurfs and start all over again, designing the characters and world that are more like the original drawings by Peyo. If they do that this movie could turn out pretty well and hopefully fix what the damage Sony made with The Smurfs and The Smurfs 2.
The Untitled Smurfs Project is set to release August 5, 2016.
