Australia at ALWAYSHOTNEWS.com

10/01/2008		Search resumes for croc victim
THE search for a camper believed to have been dragged into a far north Queensland river by a crocodile will resume this morning

10/01/2008		Fire at vacant unit block
QUEENSLAND police are investigating a suspicious fire at a vacant block of units on the Gold Coast

10/01/2008		Man killed as train, tractor collide
A TRACTOR driver has been killed in a collision with a locomotive in far north Queensland

10/01/2008		Murder, manslaughter excuses reviewed
THE Queensland Government will consider significant changes to the state`s Criminal Code after a review of the provocation and accident defences in murder and manslaughter trials

10/01/2008		No bail for model who fleeced old man
A FORMER model who was jailed for ripping off $217,000 from a 93-year-old man will be assessed by a psychiatrist to determine whether she was mentally ill at the time of the offence

10/01/2008		Cannabis crusader loses final appeal bid
NEW South Wales cannabis crusader Peter Till has failed in his last-ditch attempt to appeal against two convictions for drug possession

09/30/2008		Woman in house `not sleepwalking`
POLICE have rejected a woman`s claim that she was sleepwalking, not breaking into an Adelaide house early today

09/30/2008		Carpenter sacked over koala attack
A CARPENTER who cheered during a senseless slingshot attack on a koala has lost his job - and been ordered to perform 150 hours of community service

09/30/2008		Fisherman declared lost at sea
A SEARCH for a fisherman missing off South Australia`s coast has been abandoned, with police saying there was no way he could have survived

09/30/2008		Man charged with Target murder
A man has been charged with murder after a 24-year-old man was stabbed in a Target store in Hobart yesterday

[12]

Japan `to release hostages`

JAPAN has agreed to release two anti-whaling activists held on board a whaling ship in Antarctic waters, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says.

Have Your Say

Latest Comments:

I haven't seen Papa Smurf in years, it will be great to catch up!But I'm a little worried about Gargamel.
Posted by: Smurfette of sylvania 9:43am today

Ahh hollywood is about to ruin another classic simply because they're too afraid to try something new.
Posted by: Adam M of Melbourne 9:34am today

I hope they put lots of innuendo in there for the adults that will go right over the kids heads,... I love it when they do that in the animated movies and the Smurfs is just rife for it !!!
Posted by: Trevor of Sydney 9:13am today

Read all 10 comments

We welcome your comments on this story. Comments are submitted for possible publication on the condition that they may be edited. Please provide your full name. We also require a working email address - not for publication, but for verification. The location field is optional.Read our publication guidelines.

Submit your feedback here:

Search for more stories on this topic on Newstext, our news archive service. Click here

Video

Watch this Video NOW!

Rare and risky operation

CONJOINED twins are recovering in hospital after the first of a series of operations to separate them.

Latest videos

Blogroll

Squanderlust
Anna Warwick hits rock bottom in her quest for financial salvation.

Love & Relationships - Find a date near you on Match.com - # 1 Online Dating site Worldwide.

Virgin Mobile Cheap calls & text across Australia.

Earn a big 7.00%p.a. With directsaver, the online savings account from St.George

Win return flights to London. Enter now to win two return flights to London courtesy of British Airways

Low Fee and $50 credit Get a Credit Card with a credit bonus.

Tools

ENVISAGED as secondary characters for a single cartoon album, the blue gnomes widely known as the Smurfs will celebrate their 50th anniversary this year with a movie deal and an invasion of new female characters.

Smurfs - known in the original Belgian comic strip as Schtroumpfs - may only be as tall as three apples and do little more than forage for food and mend the village dam, but the business they have created in over 30 languages is put at some $4 billion, generating $5-12 million in royalties per year.

They will mark 50 years with a series of new comic adventures, statuettes, an exhibition at Brussels` cartoon museum, a set of commemorative stamps and, in a reflection of changing times, more females in their mushroom cottage village.

Blond-haired Smurfette, originally created by evil sorcerer Gargamel to foster jealous rivalry in the community, has been the single female Smurf for years.

"There have been dramatic changes in socio-cultural values in the past 20 to 25 years," Hendrik Coysman, head of Smurf rights holder IMPS said. "One of these is girl empowerment."

"So, there will be a greater female presence in the Smurf village and this will, of course, be a basis for new stories and this will probably turn upside down certain traditional situations within the village."

Nine Culliford, the widow of Belgian cartoonist Peyo who was instrumental in choosing the colour blue, argued that her husband Pierre had never been overtly political, but avidly read the newspaper and made his creations address current themes.

Notable among them was the 1973 story of the conflict between northern and southern clans divided by language, echoing the ongoing dispute between Belgium`s Dutch-speaking north and French-speaking south.

Thierry Culliford, Peyo`s 52-year-old son, argues the Smurfs are otherwise timeless, explaining their continued appeal.

"They live in the Middle Ages ... They don`t live in the 50s, 60s, 70s or 80s so the clothing or their look doesn`t change ... After 50 years we see they are still popular with children."

The Smurfs will be brought into the modern age, nonetheless, with a computer-animated 3-D style movie.

IMPS has agreed a deal with Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom . A script is being written and further details are set to follow in the coming weeks.

Coysman also has hopes for a 26-episode series of half-hour shorts to add to the 272 that Hanna-Barbera made in the 1980s to propel the Smurfs around the world.

The 50th anniversary could also mark a return for Johan and Peewit, the characters that first stumbled across the vibrant village and the curious "Smurf" language in "The Magic Flute" cartoon album in October 1958.

NEWS.com.au is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Today`s Top Picks

Japan `to release hostages`

JAPAN has agreed to release two anti-whaling activists held on board a whaling ship in Antarctic waters, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says.