The Smurfs, the funny blue cartoon characters who have been loved by many generations, are going to receive a great present for their 50^th anniversary: a Hollywood movie with them in the main roles.

Columbia Pictures, along with Sony Pictures Animation, announced Tuesday they had obtained the rights to the 80’s cartoons and they were developing a live action/animated film based on the little creatures.

The script will be written by David Stem and David Weiss, the writers of the very successful second and third “Shrek” films, and producers are hoping the movie will launch a movie franchise. No casting decisions have been made yet, nor was a director chosen.

"The Smurfs are one of the best-known franchises and among the most beloved collection of characters in the world," Doug Belgrad, President of Columbia Pictures, said in a statement. "We're very excited to introduce a new generation to Papa Smurf, Smurfette and the other Smurfs in all of their 'three apple tall' glory."

The Smurfs are to be created using computer-graphic imagery and they will react with real actors playing human characters.

A film made in a similar way was the successful “Alvin and The Chipmunks” from 20^th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp.

The “three-apple-tall” characters were first created by Belgian cartoonist Pierre Culliford, known as Peyo, for the Belgian comics magazine “Le Journal de Spirou” in 1958. They became very popular in all English-speaking countries, and not only, after Hanna-Barbera Productions turned the cartoons into an animated television series that was extremely appreciated in the 80s.

The little creatures, with little tails and white caps, were first called “Les Schtroumpfs,” but their names were simplified and turned into “Smurfs” for the Hanna-Barbera series.

Over the decades, the Smurfs were present as figurines made by toy companies, in singles and albums of the so-called “Smurf music,” in theme parks and in video games made for major game consoles.