© Sony Pictures Animation
In cast you missed in, June 14th was Global Smurfs Day (I missed it, too). Sony Pictures Animation took advantage of the day to announce the title of their new fully-animated Smurfs movie currently in production as well as announce the cast for three of the lead roles in the film.
Sony announced Thursday that they will be pushing back the release date for their third installment of The Smurfs franchise from August 2015 to August 2016. They are consequently pulling Goosebumps, the feature based on the popular 90’s R.L. Stine books, up from March 2016 to August 2015.
I am not a fan of The Smurfs, particularly the hybrid live-action/CG films that Sony Pictures Animation released in 2011 and 2013. When the story came out that Sony was going to make yet another Smurfs film, it sounded like less than thrilling news to me.
But maybe there’s hope for this new film after all. It’s not going to be a live-action/CG hybrid like its predecessors from Sony, but rather a full length CG animated feature.
The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS) will honor the great June Foray, the undisputed First Lady of Voice Acting, with the lifetime Governors Award at this year’s Creative Arts Emmy Awards show on September 15th.
Call it fate, call it karma, call it whatever, but The Smurfs 2 took third place in the U.S. box office derby this weekend, earning $17.5 million over the weekend and a total of $27.1 million since its opening on Wednesday, July 31. According to Box Office Mojo, first place in the U.S. box office this weekend went to 2 Guns with $27.1 million, with The Wolverine taking second place at $21.3 million.
Sony Pictures Animation and Columbia Pictures have put together a “Global Smurfs Day” to be held Saturday, June 22, 2013. The worldwide event honors the birth of Peyo (the nickname of comic book artist and Smurf creator Pierre Culliford) who was born on June 25, 1928, and celebrates the upcoming release of Sony Pictures Animation’s new film The Smurfs 2. This is the second time such an event has been held; the first one was to celebrate the release of Sony’s 2011 film The Smurfs.
Animation Fascination 