Raja Gosnell: From ‘Scooby Doo’ to ‘Smurfs’

You gotta smurf it to Raja Gosnell.   The guy sure smurfed the hell out of the ‘Scooby Doo’ property.   Between the two theatrical movies, that franchise smurfed over $237 million.   Now, Gosnell is looking to smurf another cartoon franchise altogether.

Okay, enough of that smurf.   Raja Gosnell, who brought ‘Scooby Doo’ to the live action big screen right after giving us ‘Big Momma’s House’ has signed on to direct the CG animated ‘Smurfs’ feature film.   Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation announced Gosnell’s attachment to the film today.

‘Smurfs,’ which will surely feature at least 101 little, blue creatures who do battle with the human-sized Gargamel and his cat, Azrael, is being written by J. David Stem and David N. Weiss (‘Shrek 2’ and ‘Daddy Day Camp’) and Audrey Wells (‘George of the Jungle’ and ‘The Kid’).

Says producer Jordan Kerner of Gosnells involvement: “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. Our three-apple-high heroes are in good hands, and we feel absolutely, positively Smurfy to be working with him.”

Gosnell’s directing talen was last put on display with last year’s ‘Beverly Hills Chihuahua,’ and his usage of animated characters in a live action environment looks to continue with ‘Smurfs.’

Smurf that.

Source: Columbia Pictures