Sony Scraps 'The Smurfs 3' in Favor of Animated Prequel

Sony Animation has a lot of projects in the works, and it's fair to say they are really looking to gain some ground on Dreamworks and Pixar. They've now given an update on their animated slate and it includes one original project, plus follow-ups to The Smurfs and Hotel Transylvania.

First up, Kelly Asbury (Shrek 2) has been hired to direct an all new, totally computer animated The Smurfs movie, but it won't be The Smurfs 3. This one will be a prequel exploring the origins of the Smurfs, sticking closer to the original Peyo designs. After the last film's box office failed to come close to the $600M-grossing original, the decision was made to go in a different direction. The aim is for the untitled film to be ready by August 2015. 

Sony is really hitching their saddle to the back of Hotel Transylvania director, Genndy Tartakovsky. Not only is he coming back to helm a sequel to the Adam Sandler-voiced hit, but he's also working on an animated Popeye film. These are projects we've known about for awhile as Hotel Transylvania 2 is already set for release in September 2015. Tartakovsky also has a new film on the way titled Can You Imagine?, described as “a fantastic journey through one boy’s imagination.” Some early artwork from it can be seen above.

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Sony Pictures Animation bringing TV's 'Manimal' to the big screen

Because you and the 10 other people who liked Manimal asked for it, Sony Pictures Animation is bringing the ultra-crappy 1983 TV series to the big screen. For some ungodly reason, Manimal has turned out to be a cult hit for some folks, especially in other countries with considerably lower standards than us.  Here in America the show ran for only eight episodes before wiser heads prevailed and shit-canned it off the boob tube for good. But Sony sees something worthy in the property, and they've picked up the rights to make it into a live-action/CGI film.

The show followed Dr. Jonathan Chase, a billionaire who learned the secrets of shapeshifting while traveling through Tibet. While he could turn into anything, he was limited by the show's super low budget and basically only changed into a hawk and panther. Chase was played by the late British actor, Simon MacCorkindale, and co-starred Melody Anderson, who some might recognize from Flash Gordon. The show's producer, Glen A. Anderson, is on board in the same capacity. I bet he never expected to get that phone call. "Hey Glen, wanna make a Manimal movie? Hello? Hello?"

So this pretty much completes Sony's unholy nostalgia trilogy what with The Smurfs, the recently announced Alf film, and now this. In this case, there aren't any fond memories of Manimal, and the brand has no value, so I don't know who they're targeting here. [THR]

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