Blue Thunder: Smurfs Aim for Big Screen

They’re small, they’re blue and they want you to buy their stuff and see their movie.

Variety reports that ’80s cartoon sensations the Smurfs are set to make their feature film debut. We have Alvin and the Chipmunks to thank for this, I suppose.

A Smurf 3D CGI film had been in development at Paramount/Nickelodeon, but now Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation are taking over the rights. They plan on a combination live action/animated movie. Shrek II and III writers David Stem and David Weiss are in talks to write the script.

The Smurfs were created in the 1950s by Belgian artist Pierre Culliford, also known as Peyo. They were intended to be minor characters in a Belgian comic book, but took off in popularity, leading to their own line of toys, games, t-shirts, etc. This culminated in the 1980s Saturday morning TV series in the US, where their French name, “Les Schtroumpfs” was translated into “Smurfs” (presumably because Schtroumpfs sounds like “strumpets.” Well, to me it does, at least. Or maybe they changed it because there are just too many consonants at the beginning of Schtroumpfs.). That spawned a whole bunch more merchandise that was gobbled up by American kids.

No word on what the story will be about. The show was best known (I believe) for its somewhat slow pace, heavy use of classical music, which endeared it to adults and educators, and use of the word “smurf” as an all purpose verb, adjective, and adverb (”We’d like to go smurfily smurfing in the smurfy river today but it’s too cold!”). Think about how all forms of the word fuck are used today for emphasis and description far outside of its original meaning and you have some idea of how it works.

Not surprisingly, Sony is already planning licensing for a whole new line of Smurf products. Clear your shelves for more little blue figurines.