Paramount has acquired film rights to vintage cartoon characters "The Smurfs" and is setting up development of a 3-D CGI feature with Nickelodeon Movies reports Variety.

Producers have conceived the project as a trilogy and are aiming to release the first film in 2008 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Smurfs. The blue skinned critters originated in 1958 as a Belgian comic strip but hit international fame in the form of a 1981 animated series that ran for a whopping 256 episodes.

The studio has selected Herb Ratner ("Mr. Lucky," "Clean Break") to script, whilst the storyline is being kept under wraps.

Thanks to 'Aruba'.