Sony moves ‘Goosebumps’ up to 2015, ‘Smurfs’ reboot back to 2016

Sony has shuffled the release dates for two of its upcoming family films, moving “Goosebumps” up to 2015 and a yet-untitled third “Smurfs” movie back to 2016.

“Goosebumps” will open Aug. 7, 2015, after previously being slated for March 23, 2016.

Based on R.L. Stine’s series of ghost and horror stories for young readers, “Goosebumps” stars Jack Black as Stine, who in the movie protects the world from monsters by keeping them locked up in books. Dylan Minnette plays a new kid in town who accidentally unleashes the monsters from their manuscripts, forcing him, Stine’s daughter (Odeya Rush) and the author himself to put them back where they belong.

Rob Letterman, who worked with Black in “Gulliver’s Travels,” will direct.

The third “Smurfs” installment, meanwhile, will now open Aug. 5, 2016. It had been set to open nearly a year earlier, on Aug. 14, 2015.

The movie is being touted as a reboot of the franchise, which took a hit when “Smurfs 2” proved to be a critical and domestic box-office disappointment last year, though it did fare well overseas.

Director Kelly Asbury (“Shrek 2,” “Gnomeo & Juliet”) wrote on his production blog that the movie will have “a more Peyo look” than its two predecessors, referring to the Belgian comics artist who created the diminutive blue creatures in the late 1950s.

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@ogettell