Sony animation unveils upcoming slate; Smurfs, Popeye, Hotel Transylvania 2

March 12th 2014, 2:04pm

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Sony Pictures Animation has unveiled its upcoming production slate, with two new sequels and two new original features. The line-up includes yet another iteration of THE SMURFS, although the next one will forego the live-action and stick to CGI, which may (I said MAY) improve its quality from its abyssmal predecessors. Also on the docket is a return to HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA, the fart-joke heavy hit starring Adam Sandler and his normal crew.

The new films sound a bit more promising, with a new animated version of POPEYE and an original feature entitled CAN YOU IMAGINE? which chronicles a "fantastic journey through one boy’s imagination." Hmmm. Sounds A LOT like Pixar's INSIDE OUT, which is described as an "inventive new film will take you to a place that everyone knows, but no one has ever seen: the world inside the human mind."

From the Press Release:

– Sony Pictures Animation has hired animation industry veteran Kelly Asbury (Shrek 2, Gnomeo & Juliet) to direct an all new, fully computer-animated film featuring the world’s most popular blue creatures. The family adventure, currently going by the working title The Untitled Smurfs Movie, is anticipated in theaters August 2015. Jordan Kerner (The Smurfs) is producing, with Mary Ellen Bauder (Hotel Transylvania) co-producing. The original two live action/CG hybrid Smurfs movies from Sony Pictures Animation grossed a combined $910 million worldwide.

– Genndy Tartakovsky will return to the director’s chair for Hotel Transylvania 2, , scheduled for September 2015, which will bring back Adam Sandler’s Dracula. Sandler and Robert Smigel are taking on writing duties for the comedy.

– The über prolific Genndy Tartakovsky is also busy working an all-new CG take on the comic strip hero, Popeye, all the while developing an original idea for Sony Pictures Animation titled Genndy Tartakovsky’s Can You Imagine?, described as a fantastic journey through one boy’s imagination. Producer Michelle Murdocca will once again work closely with Tartakovsky.