Bluto beware and spinach farmers rejoice, for Popeye the sailor man is on his way back to the big screen, according to Variety.

Sony Pictures is planning a 3D computer animated version that will be the first time the gruff but good-hearted mariner has been seen in cinemas since Robert Altman's 1980 musical starring a young Robin Williams. No cast or director has yet been announced, but the screenwriter is Mike Jones, a former Variety writer who was laid off a year ago.

"I'm an unabashed, lifelong Popeye fan," said Jones. "Introducing this squinty-eyed sailor to a new generation also means reintroducing him to those who, like me, grew up with him."

Altman's movie, which was Williams's feature-film debut, was widely considered a flop, though it recouped twice its budget at the box office. It also starred Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl and Paul L Smith as Bluto, Popeye's nemesis. Both those characters will be back for the animated version, as well as the adopted child Swee'Pea, a foundling left on Popeye and Olive's doorstep.

Popeye has been an enduring figure since his first appearance, in 1929, in Elzie Crisler Segar's Thimble Theatre strip. He soon became the star of the series, and transferred to animated shorts that ran from 1933 all the way up to 1957. Routinely battered by Bluto in his un-souped-up form, Popeye is transformed into an invincible tough guy once he swallows a can of spinach, whereupon he usually returns the favour.

Sony is also working on a big screen outing for The Smurfs, the blue dwarf-life creatures created by the Belgian cartoonist Pierre Culliford in 1958.