The Smurfs (2016 animated film)

The Smurfs is a 2016 American animated jukebox musical fantasy adventure comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, The Jim Henson Company, and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 55th Disney animated feature film, based on the comic book series by Belgium cartoonist Peyo, it was directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore, and Garth Jennings, co-directed by Jared Bush (in his film feature directorial debut), for a screenplay by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, and for a story by Howard, Moore, Jennings, Bush, Phil Johnston, Aibel, Berger, and Jennifer Lee. The ensemble voice cast stars Jason Bateman, Neil Patrick Harris, Andy Samberg, Dustin Hoffman, Channing Tatum, Ginnifer Goodwin, Tika Sumpter, Katy Perry, Clark Duke, Katie Crown, Charlie Day, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Scarlett Johansson, Idris Elba, Taron Egerton, Tori Kelly, Peter Dinklage, Kevin Hart, Sofia Vergara, John Cusack, Leslie Jones, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Natasha Rothwell, and Jim Carrey. Evil wizard Gargamel has plagued the happy, peaceful Smurfs for a very long time. Finally, he succeeds in chasing the little blue people from their village and through a magic portal -- which transports them to animal world named Zootopia and into the life of sly fox Nick Wilde. Only three apples high and lost in the Big Apple, the Smurfs must find a way back to their world before Gargamel tracks them down.
After five years of negotiations, Brian Henson bought the rights in 2002, and the film entered development with DreamWorks Animation and Pacific Data Images, but DreamWorks cancelled the project, until Walt Disney Animation Studios obtained the film rights in 2010. The custom marking animation to promote the film was provided by Jim Henson's Creature Shop and Industrial Light & Magic.
The Smurfs premiered at Hollywood, Los Angeles on July 16, 2016, and went into general theatrical release in Disney Digital 3-D, RealD 3D, IMAX 3D, and 4DX formats in the United States on July 29. The Smurfs received critical acclaim for its animation, voice acting, subject matter, Michael Giacchino's musical score, songs, runtime, emotional weight, visual effects, humor, charm and the film is both a homage to and a self-parody of Disney's animated features, with positive references to other animated films, especially Madagascar (2005), Hotel Transylvania (2012) and The Croods (2013). The film features more than 60 songs from famous artists, mostly performed diegetically. The film earned a worldwide gross of over $1.34 billions and broke multiple box-office records, making it the highest-grossing film of 2016, including the biggest worldwide opening weekend for an animated film and was Walt Disney Animation Studios highest-grossing film until it was overtaken by Frozen II (2019). Among other accolades, it was named one of the top ten best films of 2016 by the American Film Institute, and received Best Animated Feature at the 89th Academy Awards, among numerous other accolades. This film was dedicated to Nine Culliford, wife of Peyo, who died on July 5, 2016, before the film was released. 
The Smurfs is the first entry in what would become the multimedia franchise of the same name, which includes two more films — The Smurfs 2, was released on June 22, 2022, and the third film, titled The Smurfs 3, was scheduled on November 14, 2025.
== Plot==
In Smurf Village, the Smurfs prepare for the Festival of the Blue Moon. Papa Smurf sees a vision of Clumsy Smurf reaching for a dragon wand and evil wizard Gargamel capturing the Smurfs. In a world populated by anthropomorphic mammals of Zootopia, con artist fox Nick Wilde along with her sister doctor Maddie Wilde, he is working with Hank Croc, koala Buster Moon, who is the husband of Maddie, owns a struggling theater, and is threatened with foreclosure by bank representative llama Judith. Smurfette sneaks out when she sees a light, and encounters an inventive modern Smurf named Guy and his pet sloth Belt, who have made a torch. He warns her that Gargamel will come and offers to help her escape, but Smurfette elects to stay with the family. Guy going to the Forbidden Falls and leaves her a shell horn to blow if she needs help. 
Shortly after, Clumsy leaves to pick smurfroot and ends up leading Gargamel into the village. Afterwards, Nick meets Judy Hopps at ice cream shop, who is assigned parking duty, when a baby elephant want a jumbo pop, with Judy relating to Nick's desire for friends. The Smurfs flee and Clumsy unknowingly runs for the Forbidden Falls, with Papa, Smurfette, Grouchy, Brainy and Gutsy going after him. The Blue Moon appears and creates a vortex that spirits them to Zootopia. Gargamel and his pet cat Azrael follow them. Encountering a "Macawnivore" (portmanteau of "macaw" and "carnivore"), a brightly colored Saber-toothed Cat whom Grouchy's dubs "Chunky", the family flees him, until he is scared off by swarms of "piranhakeets" (portmanteau of "piranha" and "parakeet") that devour a ground whale. Judy makes horn and calls to Nick, who rescues them with his fire, up to Guy save the Smurfs. 
On Junior's tenth birthday, Nick, Thunk, Tulip and Judy attempt to cheer him up, but a still-unsatisfied Marty learns that the zoo's penguins — Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private — are trying to escape to Antarctica, and promptly follows them out. Buster decides to hold a singing competition with a prize of $1,000, but a typo made by his elderly assistant iguana Miss Crawly adds two extra zeros to the prize money. The misprinted flyers are blown out of the window by a fan before they can be proofread, and float across the city.
The Smurfs end up in the apartment of Nick and Judy. After they explain their situation, Judy and Nick befriend them and allow them to stay in their apartment. The next day, needing to find a "stargazer", the Smurfs follow Nick to his workplace at The Hank Croc Company, believing he is a fortune-teller. Crowds of animals gather to audition, and Buster selects his contestants. Among them are housewife and mother of 25 piglets Rosita; punk-rock porcupine Ash; teenage gorilla Johnny, son of a criminal gang leader named Big Daddy; street musician mouse Mike; and an exuberant pig named Gunter; and Judy will works with Buster. Teenage elephant Meena fails her audition due to stage fright, Ash's self-absorbed boyfriend and co-auditionee Lance is upset to be dismissed from the contest, and Rosita is paired with Gunter for a dance routine. After Buster discovers the flyers advertise a prize of $100,000, he joins his friend sheep Eddie on a visit to Eddie's wealthy grandmother, former theater superstar Nana Noodleman. Nana is reluctant to sponsor the prize money, but agrees to attend a private preview of the show before making a decision. However, when Maddie comes, she met up the Smurfs along with Judy's sister Rachel. A pack of lemurs led by King Julien XIII come across. The predatory fossa attack the lemurs, only to be scared off by the fearsome appearance of Nick. 
Pressured by her grandfather, Meena attempts to request a second audition, but settles on being Buster's stagehand instead. After some acts withdraw from the competition, Meena is offered a spot in the show, but again struggles to overcome her fear. Further problems soon arise. Rosita flounders in her dance routine with Gunter, believing her motherly duties have caused her to lose her passion. Lance cheats on Ash, causing her to break up with him, and later to break down crying during a rehearsal. Mike, assuming he will win the competition, takes out a massive loan from the bank to buy a flashy car and swindles a group of bears in a card game. Johnny, forced by Big Daddy to partake in a heist as a getaway driver, sneaks away to a rehearsal. Traffic prevents Johnny from returning to the heist in time, resulting in the arrest and incarceration of Big Daddy and his gang, straining their relationship. 
After an accident causes stage lights to fall and break, Buster has the stage rebuilt and fills a glass tank with water so that luminescent squids can be used to light the stage, Nick decide to take a trip. Guy endears himself to most of the Smurfs and Animals by inventing rudimentary shoes for the family and the trip, and other "ideas" which help them along the way. He also talks about "Tomorrow", a land of light where curiosity is not to be feared. Papa becomes jealous of Guy, especially when he notices he and Smurfette are falling in love. Junior attempts to come up with inventions and ideas of his own. Judy helps Nick escape a blind date gone wrong, and the two begin to form a bond. In the meantime, Judy tells to Nick that before she is a quirky aspiring filmmaker in Bunnyburrow who often clashes with her nature-obsessed and technophobic father Rick and has recently been accepted in the ZPD. The evening before Judy leaves, Rick accidentally breaks her laptop after a fight over one of her previous short films, leading the family to fear their relationship will permanently be strained. Desperate, Johnny attempts to steal the prize money for his father's bail, but when he sees a note on Buster's desk praising his talents, Johnny resolves to focus on his musical career instead. At the same time, Rosita regains her passion for dancing while grocery shopping, and Ash composes a song that Buster likes.
Meanwhile, Gargamel extracts Smurf essence from a lock of Smurfette's hair and impresses Nick's boss, Hank, by using the essence to restore her elderly father's youth. Upon recognizing Nick, Gargamel chases him and the Smurfs into the Toy Store and causes chaos while trying to catch them. Gargamel is arrested and jailed, but manages to escapes the prison with the aid of a swarm of flies. On the day of the preview, the bears Mike had cheated, locate him, and demand their money back. Mike directs them to Buster; the bears break open the prize chest, but it is nowhere near $100,000. Shocked by the lack of money, the rest of the contestants question Buster, and the squid tank shatters under everyone's weight. The flooded theater implodes and Judith repossesses the lot, while a disheartened Buster takes up residence with Eddie and supports himself by washing cars. Papa manages to calculate the night he and the others can return home, but needs to work out a spell. Nick reveals to Judy that he became a con artist because, as a child, he tried to join the Junior Ranger Scouts, but was bullied and rejected simply for being a fox. Linda reveals to Nick that she and Rick had originally lived in a cabin in the mountains years ago as it was his lifelong dream before he gave up on it to provide for their growing family.
While the Smurfs bond with Nick and Judy, Papa decides to search a nearby bookstore in order to locate the spell. Realizing what he has done and feeling sad and guilty for attacking his friends, but Judy is undeterred and wants to be with Nick. Angered, Gutsy attacks Guy, but the two fall over a cliff into a tar flow. Guy reveals that he lost his own family to a tar flow, and believes they are doomed. Gutsy, softened by the story, decides that he and Guy will have to work together to escape. They make a dummy to attract Chunky, who mistakes them for a female cat and pulls them free. The Smurfs find the book L’Histoire des Schtroumpfs by researcher Peyo, containing the spell to turn the moon blue. Gargamel tracks them down in the store, where he also finds a dragon wand, and transfers his magic into it to use it against the Smurfs. Papa entrusts the spell to Brainy and helps the others escape before voluntarily stays behind to get captured by Gargamel. The Smurfs encounters Chunky, who reveals he is scared of the dark, and seeks comfort with The Smurfs instead of attacking him. The Smurfs must go to the rumble theatre without Gutsy. He uses tar, fire, a whale ribcage and the piranhakeets to create a makeshift airship in which he, Chunky, and other animals escape the volcano eruption and fly over the chasm to join the others.
In the meantime, Rick reflects on his actions after seeing one of Judy's videos that mirrors his relationship with Judy, resulting in Judy becoming pregnant. Maddie soon learns that Nick was fall in love with Judy, and Maddie reunites with Buster. Meena goes to the rubble of the theater and sings out loud to music on her headphones, inspiring Buster and Judy to stage an outdoor show. Despite this, Nick tells Hank that he created the Blue Moon ad. After increasing the wand's power with Smurf essence extracted from Papa's DNA, Gargamel is confronted by the entire Smurf village, having been summoned by the blue moon which opened the portal to their world. Despite attempts from Judith to halt the show, it takes place on the lot of the former theater, with Meena's and Rosita's families in attendance. More animals are drawn into the audience when the show is broadcast live on the local news. Rosita's husband Norman is roused by his wife's talent, Big Daddy breaks out of prison and travels to the lot to reconcile with Johnny and apologize, Lance is impressed by Ash's original rock song "Set It All Free," the bears find Mike and chase him away, while the Smurfs use their unique skills to battle Gargamel, Smurfette defeats Azrael and saves Papa. The fossa attack Junior, and though Tulip, Thunk, and the penguins come to the rescue, they are outnumbered. Nick overcomes his predatory instincts, rescues his friends, and scares the fossa away from Zootopia, and Meena overcomes her stage fright and gives an enthusiastic performance, while Nick and their friends comes in time. Gargamel is knocked out by Nick with Judy uses his imaginary creature Carl, who drops the dragon wand in the process. Clumsy tries to catch it, and to Papa's surprise, is successful and sends Gargamel flying into the path of a bus, carrying him away with the help of Buster, Maddie and their families. Gutsy is welcomed lovingly back, and Smurfette returns his hug and together Guy and with his pets. The show is a success and impresses Nana who was in the audience. The lemurs regain their respect for Nick, and the penguins satisfy his hunger by feeding him sushi, which he finds better than steak. 
In the aftermath, Nick, Buster, Judy, Maddie, Junior, Thunk, Tulip, the group, and the Smurfs visit a museum of Culliford's work. After Papa discovers why he was created in a note left by Culliford, the Smurfs bid the group farewell and return to their world. Judy and Nick get married while Nana purchases the lot, and the theater is rebuilt and reopened, and the Smurfs begin a new life in a tropical mountainside that leads down to the seashore, where they can find a new home from Gargamel's castle every day, enjoy inventions both Guy and Papa come up with and the Smurfs rebuild their village in the style of Zootopia. 
==Voice Cast ==
* Jason Bateman as Nick Wilde, a sly red fox who is a small-time con artist and the new VP of marketing at The Hank Croc Company.
** Kath Soucie voices a younger Nick Wilde.
* Neil Patrick Harris as Buster Moon, an optimistic koala who plans to save his theater from closure by holding a singing competition.
* Andy Samberg as Junior, a white stork.
* Dustin Hoffman as Papa Smurf, the leader of the Smurfs.
* Channing Tatum as Guy Smurf, a more evolved teenage Smurf that, with the help of his pet sloth named Belt, thinks of new ideas and inventions that can help themselves or others. He holds romantic feelings towards Smurfette.
* Jim Carrey as Gargamel, the arch-nemesis of the Smurfs who plots to use the Smurfs as part of a spell that would turn lead into gold. As opposed to the television show where Gargamel's goal is to use the Smurfs as the key ingredient in an alchemical formula to create the gold or eat them or destroy them, in the film he wants to capture them to serve as charms, "whose mystical essence will make his inept magic more powerful — and dangerous".
* Ginnifer Goodwin as Judy Hopps, a young optimistic rabbit from Bunnyburrow and a newly appointed member of the Zootopia Police Department, assigned to the 1st Precinct and Nick's love interest, and later wife.
* Tika Sumpter as Maddie Wilde, a red fox, who is Buster's wife and Nick's sister.
* Katy Perry as Smurfette, the female of the Smurfs. About gaining the voice role, Perry said: "They had done a blind test where they took certain voices from previous interviews and matched them with the character. They liked my voice without even knowing who it was, and when they found out it was me, they thought that would work out. My personality was just a plus!"
* Charlie Day as Clumsy Smurf, the dimwitted but friendly smurf. Day commented on his character's personality change from the cartoon series saying, "I was familiar with Clumsy from the TV series, where he had that Southern twang. I went back and watched that, and then Howard, Lasseter and I talked about it. We decided to make Clumsy a little simpler, a little sweeter. His voice is pitched higher than my normal speaking voice – it's full of joy, optimism, and enthusiasm for life. Clumsy isn't trying to mess anything up for anybody — he's just clumsy, and actually, he's tired of being clumsy".
* Clark Duke as Thunk, a hypochondriac reticulated giraffe who is afraid of germs.
* Katie Crown as Tulip, a strong, confident, sweet hippopotamus.
* Reese Witherspoon as Rosita, a pig who gave up her teenage music dreams to become a devoted housewife, and mother of 25 piglets
* Seth MacFarlane as Mike, a white mouse street singer with a big Frank Sinatra-esque voice and an arrogant attitude
* Idris Elba as Gutsy Smurf, one of three Smurfs created specifically for the film and who is Scottish, wears a kilt and has sideburns. The character is also described as the "action-hero" of the film
* Peter Dinklage as Grouchy Smurf, a smurf who is always grouchy.
* Kevin Hart as Brainy Smurf, the smartest Smurf, below Papa Smurf. Quentin Tarantino was up to voice him, but dropped out.
* Scarlett Johansson as Ash, a teenage porcupine punk rocker who takes part in an alternative-rock music duo with her boyfriend Lance
* Chris "Ludacris" Bridges as Eddie Noodleman, a sheep and Buster's friend who doubts the future of the theater
* Taron Egerton as Johnny, a teenage gorilla who wants to sing, though his father would rather have him follow his criminal footsteps
* Tori Kelly as Meena, a teenage elephant with an exquisite voice and severe stage fright
* Danny McBride as Rick Hopps, a European rabbit from Bunnyburrow, who is the nature-obsessed and carrot farmer father of Judy, Rachel and Aaron, and Linda's husband
* Maya Rudolph as Linda Hopps, a European rabbit from Bunnyburrow, who is the mother of Judy, Rachel and Aaron, Rick's wife and a carrot farm.
* Mike Rianda as Aaron Hopps, the dinosaur-loving son of Rick and Linda, and Judy and Rachel's younger brother
* Sacha Baron Cohen as King Julien XIII, a ring-tailed lemur and the king of the lemurs. King Julien was initially only meant to be a "two-line" character until auditioning Baron Cohen improvised eight minutes of dialogue in an Indian accent.
* Cedric the Entertainer as Maurice, an aye-aye and King Julien's royal advisor and assistant (to whom Julien never listens).
* Andy Richter as Mort, a Goodman's mouse lemur who is King Julien and Maurice's best friend.
* Tom McGrath as Skipper, the leader of the penguins. McGrath, who was also the film's co-director and co-writer, initially only lent his voice to the temporary tracks. Growing up with films starring tough actors like John Wayne, Charlton Heston, and Robert Stack, it was the latter of whom McGrath wanted for the voice of Skipper. Many of the character's traits were based on Stack's work. McGrath especially emphasized The Untouchables, a 1959 television crime drama series starring Stack.
* Chris Miller as Kowalski, a penguin and Skipper's assistant.
** Miller also voices Timo, a tenrec who is only seen attending Julien's meeting.
* Conrad Vernon as Rico, a smart and silent penguin who is only expressed through grunts and squeals.
* Christopher Knights as Private, an eager, lowly penguin. Knights was also an assistant editor on the film.
* Conrad Vernon as Mason, a chimpanzee (Phil, the other chimpanzee, is unvoiced, communicating to Mason via Sign Language. Despite this, Phil is the one who can read whereas Mason cannot.)
* Sofia Vergara as Nana Noodleman, Eddie's grandmother who was a famous singer in her glory days
** Jennifer Hudson as Young Nana
* Tommy Chong as Yax, a laid-back domestic yak who owns the naturist club Mystic Springs Oasis in Sahara Square
* Steve Martin as Hank Croc, the leader of The Hank Croc Company who is Nick's boss.
* Garth Jennings as Miss Crawly, an elderly iguana with a glass eye who is Buster's administrative assistant
* Natasha Rothwell as Rachel Hopps, a European rabbit from Bunnyburrow who is Judy Hopps' older sister who dislikes Nick and frequently attempts to encourage her parents and Judy to leave him.
* Peter Serafinowicz as Big Daddy, a gorilla gang leader who wants his son Johnny to follow in his crime business
* John DiMaggio as Jerry Jumbeaux Jr., an ill-tempered African elephant who owns an ice cream parlor called Jumbeaux's Café, frequented by elephants and other larger mammals.
* Josh Dallas as an unnamed frantic domestic pig who frantically asks Judy for help of his "Flora and Fauna" flower shop.
* Nick Kroll as Gunter, a passionate dancing pig who is partnered with Rosita for the show
* Tom Lister Jr. as Finnick, a fennec fox who is Nick's partner in crime and friend.
* Sebastian Maniscalco as Handy Smurf, a hard-working smurf.
* Tom Kenny as Jokey Smurf, a smurf who plays pranks on others.
* Joe Manganiello as Hefty Smurf, a strong smurf with a tattoo of a heart.
* Will Arnett as Vanity Smurf, a smurf who is obsessed with his looks.
* Eric Bauza as Greedy Smurf, a smurf who loves smurfberries.
* Eric Jacobson as Baker Smurf, a smurf who loves to bake.
* Rob Riggle as Farmer Smurf, a smurf who is a farmer.
* Clancy Brown as Chef Smurf, a smurf who loves to cook.
* John Kassir as Crazy Smurf, the alarm for the village and the second Smurf created specifically for the film
* Tom Kane as Narrator Smurf, a smurf with a deep narrator voice and the third Smurf created specifically for the film.
* Rich Moore as Henri, Hank's assistant friend of The Hank Croc Company.
* Beck Bennett as Lance, a porcupine and Ash's self-absorbed boyfriend
* John Cusack as Meena's grandfather, who pressures her to overcome her stage fright
* Nick Offerman as Norman, a pig and Rosita's workaholic husband
* Leslie Jones as Meena's mother
* Rhea Perlman as Judith, a brown llama from the bank who warns Buster that his theater will be repossessed if he does not pay
* Laraine Newman as Meena's grandmother
* Adam Buxton as Stan, a gorilla who is a member of Big Daddy's gang
* Brad Morris as an unnamed baboon whom Mike attacks for not donating more money to his street performances
* Bill Farmer as Bob, a dog who documents Buster's singing competition
* Byron Howard as Bucky Oryx-Antlerson, a greater kudu who is Nick Wilde and Maddie Wilde' neighbor and Pronk's husband.
* Jared Bush as Pronk Oryx-Antlerson, a gemsbok who is Nick Wilde and Maddie Wilde' neighbor and Bucky's husband.
* John Lavelle as the unnamed construction mouse foreman of Little Rodentia's construction crew who receives the Pawpsicle sticks from Nick and Finnick.
* Mark Rhino Smith as Officer McHorn, a black rhinoceros police officer who is part of the Zootopia Police Department's 1st Precinct.
* Phil Johnston as the voices an angry offscreen character who states that his taxes pay Judy's salary after she gives him a parking ticket.
* Kristen Bell as Priscilla, a three-toed sloth and Flash's co-worker at the DMV.
* Chris Sanders as Stitch, a blue koala-like, but not alien genetic experiment known as Experiment 626, who is Nick and Maddie pet. He is described as "[u]nruly, impulsive, and freakishly strong; he's a furry, ugly-cute wrecking ball seemingly bent on destroying everything in his path." Sanders reprises the role he originated in the 2002 animated film.
** Sanders also voices Belt, Guy's pet sloth. Sanders also reprises the role he originated in Hotel Transylvania (2012) and The Croods (2013).
* Frank Welker as Azrael, Gargamel's cat. Welker provided the voice of Hefty Smurf and other characters in the 1980s cartoon series.
The voices of Rosita and Norman's piglet children were provided by Oscar, Leo, Caspar, and Asa Jennings, the children of Garth Jennings. Jennings had directors Edgar Wright (as a goat) and Wes Anderson (as Daniel, a giraffe who auditions with the song "Ben") provide "additional voices", continuing a tradition of the three friends appearing in each other's films. SpongeBob's episode "Chocolate with Nuts" includes: Susan Boyajian as Mary and Kenny as Baby Prunes. Additional, Nasim Pedrad voices Jillian, Nick's irritating matchmaking neighbor who wants Nick to date her friends, Kristen Schaal voices Shannon, Jillian's superficial friend. An archival recording of Shooby Taylor, who died in 2003, singing "Stout-Hearted Men" was used for the singing voice of a hippopotamus. Randall Duk Kim voice Pierre Culliford. 
Several characters from other films and media also cameo with their original or current voice actors, such as Bret Iwan as Mickey Mouse, Daniel Ross as Donald Duck, Bill Farmer as Goofy, Russi Taylor as Minnie Mouse, Tress MacNeille as Daisy Duck, Steve Whitmire as Kermit the Frog, Foo-Foo, Statler, Beaker, Lips, Rizzo the Rat, Link Hogthrob, and the Newsman, Eric Jacobson as Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Sam the Eagle, and Animal, Dave Goelz as Gonzo the Great, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Zoot, Beauregard and Waldorf, Bill Barretta as Pepe the King Prawn, Bobo the Bear, Big Mean Carl, Rowlf the Dog, Dr. Teeth and The Swedish Chef, David Rudman as Scooter, and Janice, Matt Vogel as '80s Robot, Sweetums, Floyd Pepper, Pops, Robin the Frog, Lew Zealand, Crazy Harry, Camilla the Chicken and Uncle Deadly, and Peter Linz as Walter.
==Production==
===Development and Pre-production===
In 1997, producer Brian Henson sent the first "of a series of letters" to The Smurfs’ licensing agent Lafig Belgium expressing interest in making a feature film. Peyo's daughter Véronique Culliford and family had wanted to make a Smurfs film for years and said that Henson was the first person to pitch a film that shared their "vision and enthusiasm". In 2006, Henson said the film was planned to be a trilogy and would explain more of Gargamel's backstory. He stated, "We'll learn [more] about Gargamel and Smurf Soup and how all that began and what really goes on in that castle. What his backstory really was. There's an all-powerful wizard... there's all sorts of things that get revealed as we go along". Early animation footage was leaked on the internet in early 2008. The filmmakers were allowed to create three new Smurfs for the film – Narrator, Crazy, and Gutsy. In May 2009, it was reported that DreamWorks Animation and Pacific Data Images would produce a CGI animated film based on the book, with How to Train Your Dragon and The Croods directors Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois and Kirk DeMicco were in talks to direct the film. But in November 2009, it was reported that DreamWorks Animation was cancelled the project.
In March 2010, it was announced that Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Animation Studios obtained the film rights from Lafig Belgium. Henson said the current project started with Disney during a conversation with the chairman-CEO Alan F. Horn, who grew up watching The Smurfs. Henson explained, "He relished them as I do and suggested that it should be a musical film. In May 2013, The Hollywood Reporter initially reported that Howard was directing the film and that Jason Bateman had been cast, but little else about the film was known at the time. The Smurfs was first officially announced on August 10, 2013, at the D23 Expo, with a March 2016 release date. 
Research for the film took place in Disney's Animal Kingdom, as well as in Kenya and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, where animators spent eight months studying various animals' walk cycles as well as fur color. Eight hundred thousand forms of mammals were created for and featured in the film. To make the characters' fur even more realistic, they also went to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County to closely observe the appearance of fur with a microscope under a variety of lighting. The filmmakers drew inspiration for Zootopias urban design from major cities including New York City, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Paris, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Brasília. To develop a city that could actually be inhabited by talking mammals ranging in size from to and from drastically different climates, the filmmakers consulted Americans with Disabilities Act specialists and HVAC system designers. For assistance with designing motor vehicles appropriate for so many different types and sizes of mammals, the filmmakers consulted with J Mays, former chief creative officer of the Ford Motor Company. By January 2014, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger had been hired by Disney to write the film. On June 20, 2014, it was announced that Henson would be produced the film, making it the first Henson-produced film for Disney since Muppet Treasure Island. By November 2014, Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri had been joined and brought on board as an executive producer of multiple sequels The Smurfs. Adam Sandler was confirmed as an executive producer along with Bateman. In March 2015, it was revealed that Rich Moore (Hotel Transylvania) had been added as a director of the film, in addition to Jared Bush (Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero) as co-director. By May 2015, Ed Skudder confirm that he will be head of story with Josie Trinidad and Jim Reardon.
===Writing===
Development of the film that would come to be called The Smurfs began when Byron Howard and Brian Henson pitched six story ideas to Disney Animation chief creative officer and executive producer John Lasseter, of which three involved animal characters: an all-animal adaptation of The Three Musketeers, a 1960s-themed story about a "mad doctor cat...who turned children into animals", and a "bounty hunter pug in space". The common thread running through these ideas was that Howard wanted to do a film similar to Disney's Robin Hood, which also featured animals in anthropomorphic roles. According to Howard, Zootopia emerged from his desire to create something different from other animal anthropomorphic films, where animals either live in the natural world or in the human world. It was around this time that screenwriter Jared Bush was hired to work on the film; he was excited to work on a jukebox musical film. 
His concept, in which animals live in a modern world designed by animals for animals, was well received by Lasseter, who responded by embracing and lifting Howard "in the air like a baby Simba". Howard and Bush continued to develop the film with the assistance of the Disney Story Trust, the studio's top creative personnel who meet regularly to review and discuss all projects in development. The most delightful part of the spy film turned out to be its first act, set in a city created by and for animals. To focus on the all-animal city, Howard eventually dropped the 1960s setting, along with the espionage and international aspects, which Buster Moon and Papa Smurf in lead roles, while Nick Wilde was essentially Buster's friend and Judy Hopps was Nick's love interest and friend even Maddie Wilde was Buster's wife. For a while, "the filmmakers were very committed" to that version of the story, but then in November 2014, the filmmakers realized the film's plot would be more engaging if they reversed the roles to instead focus on Wilde as opposed to Moon. 
In a manner similar to Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Smurfs featured cameo appearances by a number of Mickey Mouse and The Muppets characters. Moore aimed to add licensed characters in a similar manner as cultural references in Looney Tunes shorts, but considered "having the right balance so a portion of the audience didn't feel they were being neglected or talked down to." However, Moore avoided creating the movie around existing characters, feeling that "there's so much mythology and baggage attached to pre-existing titles that I feel someone would be disappointed," and considered this to be a reason why movies based on the comics franchises typically fail. 
Before production, the existing characters were added to the story either in places they would make sense to appear or as cameos from a list of characters suggested by the film's creative team, without consideration if they would legally be able to use the characters. The company then sought out the copyright holders' permissions to use the characters, as well as working with these companies to assure their characters were being represented authentically.
===Casting===
On January 14, 2015, Neil Patrick Harris was cast in the film's second lead voice role. On May 6, 2015, Bateman and Ginnifer Goodwin were announced as having been cast, respectively, in the roles of Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps. The filmmakers chose Bateman because they wanted an actor who could bring "a funny yet heartfelt side" with "a wily, dry-witted sort of voice". Bateman described his character as "a crafty, sarcastic schemer", remarking on the role's similarity to many other roles he had done since he was 12. He explained that he had said to the directors: "'What kind of voice do you guys want me to do?' And they just looked at me like I was an idiot and said, 'Just do what you do. Just talk.'" Bateman described Nick as "a big Alex the Lion mixed with Kermit the Frog, Po, Branch and Gru".
Commenting on the casting of Goodwin, Moore said that she brought "very centered sweetness, tremendous heart and a great sense of humor"; he described Judy as "a little Pollyanna mixed with Furiosa, Poppy and Mavis". Goodwin stated about her character: "People mistake kindness for naïveté or stupidity, and she is a good girl through and through, even she is creativity. But she's not a dumb bunny." This was followed by casting announcements for Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Rianda on the next day. On June 17, 2015, Tika Sumpter was cast as Nick's sister Maddie, with Jim Carrey cast to play the villain, Gargamel. That same month, it was confirmed that Harris's character was named Buster and that Chris "Ludacris" Bridges would voice Eddie, a sheep and Buster's best friend, while Andy Samberg, Katie Crown and Clark Duke was added the cast. In August 2015, it was announced that Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Scarlett Johansson, Tori Kelly and Taron Egerton had joined the cast. David Spade was in talks to play Brainy Smurf, however, these did not pan out. In September 2015, it was announced for the Smurfs cast Dustin Hoffman, Katy Perry, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Kevin Hart, and Peter Dinklage were confirmed. Channing Tatum was added in the voice cast as the new character of Smurfs as Guy Smurf. Originally, Julien was intended to be a minor character with only two lines. However, when Sacha Baron Cohen auditioned for the role, he improvised not only an Indian accent, but eight minutes of dialogue for his recording. The filmmakers found Cohen's performance so funny that they rewrote the script and made Julien a much more prominent character in the story as "King of the Lemurs". Culliford confirmed that Randall Duk Kim will provide the voice of Pierre Culliford.
=== Animation ===
Disney's most recent work on animating fur was for the titular character of the 2008 film Bolt and 2012 film Hotel Transylvania, but the software they had used at the time was not ready for creating the realistic fur of the animals of The Smurfs. Therefore, the studio's IT engineers developed the fur-controlling software "iGroom", which gave character designers precise control over the brushing, shaping and shading of fur and made it possible to create a variety of eccentric character styles for each animal. The software was also able to control an unseen "imaginary" under-layer that gave fur a degree of plushness not seen before. This feature was used to create characters like Officer Clawhauser, who has a big head that is entirely made of spotted fur. Characters with noteworthy numbers of strands of hair or fur included both of the two lead characters, Nick Wilde, Buster Moon, Judy Hopps, Maddie Wilde & others, who each had around 2.5 million hairs; a giraffe with nine million strands of fur; a gerbil with 480,000 strands; and a rodent with more strands of hair than the 400,000 that were on Elsa's head in Frozen, and Mavis's head in Hotel Transylvania.
The Smurfs was the second time Disney used the Hyperion renderer, which they had first used on Big Hero 6. A new fur paradigm was added to the renderer to facilitate the creation of realistic images of the animals' dense fur. Nitro, a real-time display application developed since the making of Hotel Transylvania, was used to make the fur more consistent, intact and subtle much more quickly, as opposed to the previous practice of having to predict how the fur would work while making and looking at silhouettes or poses for the character. The tree-and-plant generator Bonsai, first used in Frozen, was used to make numerous variations of trees with very detailed foliage.
The Smurfs characters were created during post-production by 268 Walt Disney Animation Studios employees who spent around 358,000 hours animating. Bush claiming that "there are moments of cartoony fun", so they’re using super-squash and super-stretch. Art director characters Allen Battino and Craig Kellman, was brought in to redesign the characters for Smurfs. 
The Smurfs was produced in makeshift quarters in a giant warehouse in North Hollywood (together with Moana) while Disney Animation's headquarters in Burbank was being renovated. The marking custom animation to promote the film was provided from, Jim Henson's Creature Shop, and Industrial Light & Magic.
To emphasize Judy Hopps's emotions during certain scenes, the team additionally implemented a technique called "Judy-Vision", which implements stock 2D and live-action footage alongside the CG animation.
==Music==
Alan Silvestri was originally signed to compose the film's score, but was replaced by Michael Giacchino would compose the film's score, in his first feature-length project for Walt Disney Animation Studios, as he previously worked on several short films and television specials produced by the company, as well as multiple Pixar films. Recording took place from March 16–20, 2016, with an 80-piece orchestra conducted by Tim Simonec.
==Release==
===Theatrical===
The Smurfs premiered on July 16, 2016, at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. It was released in the United States on July 29, 2016, in Disney Digital 3-D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D, making it the first Disney animated film shown in domestic IMAX theatres since Treasure Planet (2002). The film was previously scheduled to be released on March 4, 2016. It was shown for the first time to the public as a feature film in an international competition for a young audience during the Brussels Animation Film Festival in Belgium on February 7, and was screened to the general media and audience on February 13. It was accompanied by the short animated film, Goodnight Mr. Foot.
===Home Media===
The Smurfs was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD, and Digital HD platforms on December 2, 2016. It includes some bonus material such as "Scoretopia", an alternate opening, mini-movies, and the music video. The film made a revenue of $89.6 million from home media sales with 4.4 million units sold, making it the third best-selling title of 2016 behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Finding Dory. The Smurfs was released on 4K Blu-ray on November 5, 2019. It was accompanied by the short animated film, Goodnight Mr. Foot.
==Marketing ==
In addition, the studio devoted considerable marketing attention to the furry fandom demographic, believing that they would logically be most interested in this film project. Disney teamed up with marketing partners in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom to promote the film through McDonald's Happy Meals and Post Foods brand cereal during the summer of 2016. Figures of several characters were released for Disney Infinity 3.0 on July 1, 2016.
== Accolades ==
The film was chosen by the American Film Institute as one of the top ten films of 2016, and won the Academy Award, Golden Globe, Critics Choice Movie Award and Annie Award for Best Animated Feature Film. It also received a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film, which it lost to Kubo and the Two Strings.
==Pedal Pump==
*Johnny (2 times)
==Expanded franchise==
===Sequels===
In June 2016, Howard, Moore and Jennings were in talks about the possibility of a The Smurfs sequel. On August 8, 2016, Jason Bateman and Dustin Hoffman confirmed that they had signed on for multiple sequels. On January 25, 2017, Disney announced that a sequel to The Smurfs was in the works. Later that day, screenwriter Jared Bush confirmed that he is working on the film as a director. In April 2017, it was confirmed that directors Byron Howard and Garth Jennings returned the film along with producers Clark Spencer, Brian Henson and Toby Ascher. In August 2019, Teen Titans Go! creators Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic wants to directed for the sequel for The Smurfs. Later that day, Disney confirmed that Horvath and Jelenic to be co-directing. On February 23, 2020, it was announced that Wallace Wolodarsky and Maya Forbes will rewrite the script. In May 2021, Matthew Fogel was confirmed as screenwriter after previously scribing Illumination's Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022). According to Khary Payton, who has collaborated with Horvath and Jelenic on various projects at Warner Bros. Animation, the duo flew to Walt Disney Animation Studios a month after the release of their first feature film, Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, in September 2018. Ed Skudder who previously worked with Horvath on Unikitty!, confirmed that he will returns. Disney officially confirmed the sequel in January 2019, with a release date of June 25, 2021, coincided Global Smurfs Day. In April 2020, Disney shifted the film's release to June 22, 2022, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 
In April 2022, The Jim Henson Company and Walt Disney Animation Studios had been in development of a third Smurfs film. In June 2022, Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic confirmed for directing the film, after doing the live-action The Smurfs (2023). A series starring Judy Hopps, who appeared in The Smurfs, for Disney+, was being developed simultaneously with the film, a series starring Smurfette, for Disney+, was in development, also a series named The Smurfs started in 2021, for Disney Junior and Disney Channel. Aibel, Berger and Fogel returned to write the screenplay. Ed Skudder was returned as a head of story from the first two films. 
===Live-action adaptation===
:Main article: The Smurfs (2023 film)
In August 2021, Director Jeff Fowler, who previously directed Sonic The Hedgehog 2, confirmed to make a live-action of The Smurfs movie. Jim Carrey confirmed to play Gargamel in live-action after the sequel of Sonic the Hedgehog. It would be produced by Neal H. Mortiz by his Original Film banner alongside Brian Henson, and Toby Ascher. Blur Studio's Tim Miller and were hired in mid June 2022 to develop it.
=== Standalone film ===
Disney announced that to make an another a Smurfs musical film, with Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon and The Croods writers and directors Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois and Kirk DeMicco attached as directors in December 2016. In January 2018, it was reported that Sanders and DeBlois took over The Call of the Wild and How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World putting Smurfs on hold, and thus postponing its original schedule for a year to a then planned March 2020. John Cleese had been working with DeMicco on a feature based on Roald Dahl's story The Twits, a project that never went into production. Disney got a copy of their script and liked it, and invited Cleese on board. 
In March 2019, the title had been revealed to be The Smurfs: A New Generation, and that it would be co-produced by Pearl Studio. Reports later said that the story would mark the beginning of the film will be second-generation,[better source needed] which was confirmed on August 20, 2019. Following the full casting announcement, Sanders, DeBlois and DeMicco were confirmed to be directing. In November 12, 2017, it was announced that Jane Hartwell, Kristine Belson, Brad Lewis, and Bonnie Arnold were produced the film with Roger Deakins serving as the film's visual consultant. Shortly thereafter, Ed Gombert, who previously collaborate with Sanders in Lilo & Stitch (2002) and The Croods (2013), handled the head of story. According to Sanders, DeBlois, and DeMicco, they confirmed after they received inspiration from a protecting nature, and from The Lorax (2012) and Smallfoot (2018), as the film takes place in a small town called Green Hills. Overall, the budget was approximately $150 million. Production of the film was shifted to work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
===Pixar reboot film===
In March 2021, plans for a completely computer-animated reboot to be produced with Pixar Animation Studios instead Walt Disney Animation Studios, who produced of two films of The Smurfs. Madagascar directors Tom McGrath and Eric Darnell was confirmed as director in March 2014. It was revealed that the film would explore the origins of the Smurfs, and feature a new take on the characters, with designs and environments more closely following the artwork created by Peyo, the creator of the Smurfs franchise. McGrath wants for the characters to inspired in 2021 TV Series and for origin story. On June 2, 2022, Pixar confirmed the original title of The Smurfs Movie, along with a first look at the film.
==Gallery==
File:The Smurfs 2016 Cast Announced Poster.png|Mammals Cast Announced
File:9EBC4D7B-34AD-44C9-81AA-CA57A3D1B6FB.png|Gargamel Cast Announced
File:The Smurfs 2016 DVD Cover.png|DVD Cover
Category:Disney's The Smurfs