Last week Sony Pictures sent shivers through the Montreal production community by halting pre-production on its big-budget sci-fi shoot Singularity.

It turned out director Roland Emmerich wants to spend more time on the script before the cameras start rolling on the epic, likely after Steven Spielberg’s Robopocalypse completes production on soundstages at Mel’s Cite du Cinema.

Now, it emerged this week that Sony Pictures is bringing two more VFX-heavy pictures to Montreal, on top of Singularity: Houdini, director Francis Lawrence’s portrait of the famed magician, and the sequel to The Smurfs.

Smurfs 2, a CG/live action combo, is expected to shoot in early spring 2012, ahead of its scheduled August 2, 2013 release date. The Smurfs performed well at the box office this past summer, taking in $135 million worldwide.

Quebec film commissioner Hans Fraikin said Sony Pictures is looking for yet more cost savings and convenience by shooting one picture after the other in Montreal.

“You create relationships in terms of direction, crews, the unions and sometimes it makes sense to turn right around and work with the people that you’ve been working with,” he told Playback Daily.