The Smurfs

The Smurfs is a 2011 American live-action animated fantasy comedy film based on the comic series of the same name created by the Belgian comics artist Peyo. Directed by Raja Gosnell from a screenplay by J. David Stem, David N. Weiss, Jay Scherick and David Ronn, and a story by Stem and Weiss, it is the first live-action/CGI hybrid Sony Pictures Animation film and the first of two live-action animated Smurfs feature films. The film stars Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays, Sofía Vergara and Hank Azaria, with the voices of Jonathan Winters, Katy Perry, George Lopez, Anton Yelchin, Fred Armisen and Alan Cumming. After five years of negotiations, Jordan Kerner bought the rights in 2002, and the film entered development with Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies, until Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation obtained the rights in 2008. On a production budget of $110 million, filming began in March 2010 in New York City. The Smurfs premiered at Júzcar on June 16, 2011, and was released theatrically by Columbia Pictures through Sony Pictures Releasing in the United States on July 29. It received negative reviews from critics, and grossed $563.7 million worldwide. It ranks as the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2011, and was Sony Pictures Animation's highest-grossing film until it was overtaken by Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse in 2023. It was also the highest-grossing live-action/animated hybrid of all time before it was overtaken by Lilo & Stitch in 2025. A sequel, The Smurfs 2, was released on July 31, 2013.