The Smurfs (2023 film)

The Smurfs is a 2023 American 3D live-action/computer-animated jukebox musical fantasy comedy film that will be a live-action/CGI remake of Disney's 2016 film of the same name, based on the comic series of the same name created by the Belgian comics artist Peyo, directed by Jeff Fowler, for a screenplay by and Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger, Pat Casey, Josh Miller, Matthew Fogel, and produced by Véronique Culliford, Neal H. Mortiz, Brian Henson, John Davis, Laurence "Jay" Brown, Tyran "Ty-Ty" Smith and Toby Ascher. It is the first Walt Disney Animation Studios film to blend computer animation with live-action photography. Traditional animation was done by Company 3 Animation, Tonic DNA, Walt Disney Animation Studios and Rough Draft Studios.
The Smurfs was screened as a work in progress beginning September 8, 2023 at the Toronto International Film Festival, premiered in Hollywood, Los Angeles on December 9, and was theatrically released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures in the United States on December 22, 2023, in the Dolby Cinema, RealD 3D, and IMAX formats. Like its predecessor, the film set several box office records and received critical acclaim from critics. The film was a hit at the box-office, grossing over $1.5 billion worldwide during its theatrical run, and broke several box-office records, including becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all time since January 2024. It also became the seventh-highest-grossing film of all time and the second-highest-grossing film of 2019, as well as the highest-grossing Disney readaptation to date. 
== Cast ==
=== Live-Action Cast ===
* Jim Carrey as Gargamel, a brilliant robotics expert and mad scientist who works with the American government, covets Smurfs's abilities, and plans to exploit them for personal gain, leading him to become Smurfs's archenemy. Carrey saying that his character to his portrayal of the Dr. Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog. To look the part of Gargamel in the climax fight, Carrey wore a prosthetic nose, ears, buck teeth, eyebrows, and a wig. The initial make-up test took three hours, but by mid-production, the process took 90 minutes to complete. Carrey was transformed over 50 times and spent approximately 130 hours in the make-up chair.
* Chris Pratt as Nick Wilde, the new VP of marketing at Anjelou Cosmetics.
* Anya Taylor-Joy as Mavis Mitchell, an aspiring filmmaker who is the daughter of Rick and Linda, Rachel's young sister, Aaron's older sister, and Jonathan's love interest.
* Steve Carell as Buster Moon, an optimistic founder of Moon Theater.
* Anne Hathaway as Maddie Moon, Alex's sister and Buster's wife.
* Reese Witherspoon as Rosita
* Eric André as Mike
* Rihanna as Ash
* Taron Egerton as Johnny
* Tori Kelly as Meena
* Keegan-Michael Key as Gunter
* Beck Bennett as Lance, Ash's self-absorbed boyfriend
* Colin Jost as Ben, the groom of planned wedding
* Pallavi Sharda as Preeta Mehta, the bride of planned wedding.
* Michael Keaton as Rick Mitchell, the nature-obsessed and technophobic father of Mavis, Rachel and Aaron, and Linda's husband
* Catherine Keener as Linda Mitchell, the mother of Mavis, Rachel and Aaron, and Rick's wife
* Blue Chapman as Aaron Mitchell, the dinosaur-loving son of Rick and Linda, and Katie's younger brother
* Natasha Rothwell as Rachel Mitchell, Katie's older sister.
* Shemar Moore as Hank Anjelou, the CEO of Anjelou Cosmetics and Alex's boss.
* Charlize Theron as Nana Noodleman, Eddie's grandmother
* Chris "Ludacris" Bridges as Eddie Noodleman, Buster's friend
* Rhea Perlman as Judith, a banker
* Megan Mullally as Wanda Loughran, Nick and Maddie's mother and Buster's mother-in-law
* Alfred Molina as Michael "Mike" Loughran, Nick and Maddie's father and Buster's father-in-law
* Luke Evans as Big Daddy, a gang leader who wants his son Johnny to follow in his crime business
=== Voice Cast ===
* Dustin Hoffman as Papa Smurf
* Justin Timberlake as Guy Smurf
* Anna Kendrick as Smurfette
* Charlie Day as Clumsy Smurf
* Jack Black as Gutsy Smurf
* Ben Schwartz as Brainy Smurf
* Seth Rogen as Grouchy Smurf
* Sebastian Maniscalco as Handy Smurf
* Tom Kenny as Jokey Smurf
* Tom Kane as Narrator Smurf
* Rob Riggle as Farmer Smurf
* Wolfgang Puck as Chef Smurf
* Julie Andrews as Smurf Willow
* Ellie Kemper as Smurf Blossom
* Michelle Rodriguez as Smurf Storm
* Ariel Winter as Smurf Lily
* John C. Reilly as Baker Smurf
* Jack McBrayer as Hefty Smurf
* Will Arnett as Vanity Smurf
* John Kassir as Crazy Smurf
* T. J. Miller as Greddy Smurf
* John DiMaggio as the voice of Tiger
* Lil Rel Howery as the voice of Pip, Smurfette's chipmunk.
* Frank Welker as Azrael, Gargamel's cat. Welker provided the voice of Hefty Smurf and other characters in the 1980s cartoon series. Four orange tabby cats played the role of Azrael with some scenes being created with CGI by MPC. Animal trainer Larry Madrid had a "rare Burma cat" that was used to educe snarls from the other cats since they did not like him.
* Chris Sanders as the voice of Belt.
==Production==
=== Pre-production ===
In February 2017, following the success of the 2016 animated The Smurfs, during the interview of 88th Academy Awards, they also won for the Best Animated Feature, producer Brian Henson's The Jim Henson Company interest to make a live-action adaptation, such as 101 Dalmatians (1996) and Alice in Wonderland (2010). By May 2018, Neal H. Moritz’s Original Film and John Davis’s Davis Entertainment had been brought on board as producers of the live-action adaptation. Blur Studio's Tim Miller was hired to serve as executive producer along with Adam Sandler, Chris Meledandri, Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Jennifer Lee.
=== Development ===
The development process ultimately went through six directors; in July 2018, Rob Letterman set to helm the film. He was replaced by Mike Mitchell in January 2019, followed by Tim Hill, with Carlos Saldanha in May 2021. In August 2021, Disney confirmed Teen Titans Go! creators Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic were directed for the animation sequences, after doing co-directed the film in The Smurfs 2 (2022). In September 2021, following the cast announcement at D23 Expo 2021, Jeff Fowler confirmed replacing Hill as director and Henson and Toby Ascher returning as producers. A day later, Pat Casey and Josh Miller had been hired to write the script along with Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger and Matthew Fogel.
=== Casting ===
On November 19, 2021, during the D23 Expo, Chris Pratt and Anya Taylor-Joy, were previously worked together in The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2017), revealed to having been cast, respectively, in the roles of Nick Wilde and Mavis, while Dustin Hoffman, Charlie Day, Reese Witherspoon, Taron Egerton, Tori Kelly, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Natasha Rothwell reprises their roles from the animated film. In Febraury 2022, Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Eric André, Rihanna, Keegan-Michael Key, Shemar Moore, Michael Keaton, Catherine Keener, Jemaine Clement, Alfred Molina, Megan Mullally, Charlize Theron, Luke Evans, Djimon Hounsou, Blue Chapman, Colin Jost, Pallavi Sharda, Tim Gunn, Thue Ersted Rasmussen and Eugenio Derbez were added in the cast, as well Jim Carrey confirmed to reprise his role as Gargamel. The new voice cast was revealed in September 2022, with Justin Timberlake, Anna Kendrick, Jack Black, Ben Schwartz, Seth Rogen revealed to be part of its cast. Schwartz, Rothwell, and Carrey uniting with Fowler after having previously doing Sega video games adaptation Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) and its sequel Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022). Some cast were included Tom Kenny, Wolfgang Puck, Lil Rel Howery, Tom Kane, Eric Jacobson, Rob Riggle, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Sanders, Randy Thom, Frank Oz, Julie Andrews, Michelle Rodriguez, Ellie Kemper, Ariel Winter, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, and Yeardley Smith.
=== Filming ===
In Febraury 2022, Pratt revealed that the film would shoot in Los Angeles, Montreal, Wallace, Atlanta and Vancouver. On a budget of $200 million, principal photography began in Los Angeles on March 25, 2022. The film was shot by cinematographer Brandon Trost, on the Sony VENICE cinema cameras and Panavision Primo 70 and Primo Artiste Lenses. In May, scenes were shot all night for five nights in a row at F.A.O. Schwartz toy store. Gargamel's lair, which included the "Smurfalator", was built on a soundstage. It took three months to build because some parts were hard to come by. Production eventually found the rare parts at garage sales, flea markets, on eBay and Craigslist. In order to help the Smurfs' animators during post-production, Trost and his team would light up a scene where the Smurfs would be digitally added using 7 and one half-inch tall models to stand in during set-up and rehearsals. He explained, "We can then position the light so that it falls right. The actors know where the Smurf will be when it is animated later, so their eyelines will match. Then we can take out the model and shoot the scene, and they look quite real, fitting the real backing that we're giving them. It looks like they're part of the surroundings". When time came to film a scene that would include actors and Smurfs, each Smurf was represented by a different colored dot and the actors had to remember which dot was which Smurf.
When time came to film a scene that would include actors and Smurfs, each Smurf was represented by a different colored dot and the actors had to remember which dot was which Smurf. The ship appeared in a number of other films, including Treasure Island (1999), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007).
=== Visual Effects and Animation ===
Both visual effects and computer animation for the Smurfs characters were provided by Lucasfilm's visual effects division, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). Additional visual effects and CG effects were also provided by Moving Picture Company, Mikros Animation, DNEG, Rising Sun Pictures, Blur Studio, Luma Pictures, Framestore, Lola Visual Effects, Cinesite, Scanline VFX, Rodeo FX and Jim Henson's Creature Shop. The Smurfs characters were created during post-production by 268 employees who spent around 358,000 hours animating.
The 2D hand-drawn animated sequences for The Smurfs were done in South Korea by Rough Draft Studios Korea, Company 3 Animation, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Bent Image Lab and Tonic DNA. The film includes both traditional and CG animation, which was for the most part tradigitally created with Toon Boom's Harmony software; which were done in traditional cel animation (in contrast to computer-generated imagery 3-D animation) as a tribute to past Disney fairy tale films such as Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The overseas studios completed the camera work, inbetweening, and digital ink and paint. It also contains a stop-motion sequence that was animated by Screen Novelties. James Baxter and Eric Goldberg were hired for the animation supervisor.
=== Music and sound design ===
On May 22, 2023, it was announced that Brian Tyler, who previously doing the score and the songs in The Smurfs 2 (2022), will compose the film's score and to write new songs alongside producer Lin-Manuel Miranda. Recording took place from July 12, 2023 with an 80-piece orchestra at the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Bros and mixing took place at Skywalker Sound. The soundtrack album was released on December 15, 2023.
For the film's sound design, Fowler was able to get the rights to archive many sound effects from the MGM Cartoon library, such as William Hanna's high-pitched screams for Tom, and the impacts of the characters being hit, which were edited by Jim May (another recurring collaborator of Jeff Fowler) to sound beefier.
== Release ==
=== Theatrical ===
The nearly complete film was screened as a work in progress beginning September 8, 2023 at the Toronto International Film Festival, it was premiered on December 9, 2023 at L. A. Live, and it was theatrically on December 22, 2023.
Category:Disney's The Smurfs