Returning to cinemas in 2017 are everyone's favourite small blue creatures - The Smurfs! On Sunday (14th June), it was global Smurfs day and Sony Pictures Animation let the world know what project they have planned next - Get Smurfy! This will be the third movie in the modern day Smurfs movie franchise and it has been revamped with a whole new cast! - Disney starlet turned singer Demi Lovato will voice Smurfette, Rainn Wilson will voice the villain 'Gargamel' and Mandy Patinkin will voice Papa Smurf - the latter seems like an almost perfect casting choice as his voice sounds like it will make a great Papa Smurf! For more details - continue reading!


The cast isn't the only thing that is changing with the third instalment - whilst the other 2 films have been live action with animated Smurfs, this movie will be completely animated. Why have they done this? I believe this is because off box office stats and critic approval/word of mouth. Firstly, the box office for the first movie was over $560 million worldwide and the box office for the second movie was almost $200 million less; $347 million. Maybe Sony didn't want to risk another $200 million drop so thought it would be best to start from scratch? The critics never really warmed to the series either - the first movie got a 22% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and the second got just 14% - this shows that quality is a major issue. Maybe by going back to the routes of being completely animated, Sony will regain loyal fans and boost those box office numbers?

One of the casting choices is also very interesting - Smurfette was previously voiced by Katy Perry who won a couple of Kids Choice Awards for her role which shows that the targeted audience liked her performance. Demi Lovato is similar to Perry as she is a singer also but she is also similar to fellow Sony animation property 'Hotel Transylvania's Selena Gomez - that movie ended up being the companies most successful fully animated film to date. Maybe Sony think the appeal of a Disney starlet will be a box office draw?

Here is the official synopsis for the film:
"Get Smurfy finds Smurfette and her brothers trekking through the uncharted Enchanted Forest to try and discover a fabled Smurfs village before their nemesis, the evil wizard Gargamel, does. Along the way, some of the mysteries of the little blue creatures’ origins are brought to light: do Smurfs come in any other colors? are their mushroom houses organic? And… why are there 99 boys and only one girl?"


And here is what the producer of the film, Jordan Kerner has to say about Get Smurfy:
“We felt it was important to take a very different approach with this origin story. It returns to the roots of Peyo’s creation in this CG animated adventure. I hope it will delight not only fans but audiences worldwide. We couldn’t be more excited with the talented new cast we’re starting to assemble for our Smurfy reboot!”

Get Smurfy will be directed by Kelly Asbury and is scheduled for release on March 31st 2017 - similar to Dreamworks' Home which has gone on to make over $360 million worldwide. See the official announcement below!