AceShowbiz -

"The Smurfs 3" gets a new release date. Initially planned to hit theaters on July 24, 2015, the upcoming third installment of the movie franchise centering on the Peyo blue human-like characters has been pushed back by Sony Pictures to August 14.

The new movie is expected to explore the origin story. "I hear that the third movie, if there is one, might actually deal with the genuine origin of how all these characters ran into each other way back when....," Hank Azaria who plays the Gargamel told ComingSoon.

"I imagine Gargamel having attended a Harry Potter-like academy in his youth for wizards, and was sort of the black sheep - first of all, wasn't very good. Second of all, he must have thought the way to really be a powerful magician is to grab these Smurfs and grab their essence and everybody must have said, 'You're an idiot. Don't waste your life doing that.' And he's been trying his whole life to prove them wrong."

Also getting bumped from its original date is post-apocalyptic film "The Maze Runner". The adaptation of James Dashner's sci-fi book of the same title is moved by 20th Century Fox from the Valentine's Day release to September 19, 2014.

Fox's "The Book Thief", meanwhile, is moved up from November 15 to November 8 for a limited release. And "The Fault in Our Stars" which stars Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort and Willem Dafoe is confirmed to arrive in theaters on June 6, 2014.