Raja Gosnell has been hired to direct Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation’s upcoming feature film adaptation of Smurfs.
Gosnell, who began working in the film business as an editor, has directed recent hits Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Scooby-Doo.
Smurfs will be a mix of live-action and CG-animation, due for release in both 3-D and 2D versions on Dec. 17, 2010. The film is produced by Jordan Kerner and written by J. David Stern, David N. Weiss and Audrey Wells.
‘With Raja coming aboard, we now have a brilliant director who has proven time and again that he has a deft touch in blending the worlds of physical comedy and honest emotion with both live action and photo real animated characters,’ said Kerner. ‘Our three-apple-high heroes are in good hands, and we feel absolutely, positively Smurfy to be working with him.’
Smurfs began life as a comic strip created by Belgian cartoonist Pierre Culliford under the pen name of Peyo in 1958. The popular blue characters became a sensation in Europe and later in America and the rest of the world, spawning a huge number of toys, books and a popular 1980s animated series.
