While animated movies have been pushing new box office boundaries recently, both in new and old franchises, not every revival of a beloved IP is a success. Now, one of the incredibly disappointing movies of 2025 has arrived home on Paramount+ and instantly taken the number one spot. That movie is Smurfs, which comes with an A-List cast to rival any summer blockbuster, but became another panned entry in the franchise even though it still managed to avoid becoming a complete flop at the box office.
In the last couple of years, Paramount has expressed an interest in making Smurfs a huge part of their future animated output, with TV shows and movies planned. The July theatrical release of Smurfs was the first big screen outing for the little blue characters since The Smurfs 2 in 2013, and unlike that movie – which scored a huge $347 million box office – it struggled to a $117 million haul, and was only saved from being a complete failure due to its restrained budget of $58 million. The synopsis of the movie reads:
“Smurfette (Rihanna) leads the crew on a daring rescue mission to save Papa Smurf (John Goodman) after he is mysteriously kidnapped by the evil wizards, Razamel and Gargamel. The Smurfs team up with new friends on an epic adventure that takes them into the real world, where they discover that their true destiny is to save the universe.”
Now, just two months later, Smurfs is now available for fans to watch at home as part of their Paramount+ subscription, and plenty of people have been doing just that.
‘The Smurfs’ Had Plenty of Talent but Failed to Please Critics
Directed by Chris Miller, who has scored huge success with the Spider-Verse movies, from a script by Pam Brady, The Smurfs has a stacked cast led by Rihanna, who voices Smurfette and provided several songs to the film’s soundtrack. Alongside the singer, the film also stars John Goodman, James Corden, Nick Offerman, Daniel Levy, Amy Sedaris, Natasha Lyonne, Sandra Oh, Octavia Spencer, Nick Kroll, Hannah Waddingham, Alex Winter, Maya Erskine, Kurt Russell, and more.
Yet, a great cast can only go so far to creating a good movie, and Smurfs struggled in its reviews, with critics scoring it just 21% – exactly the same score as the 2011 live-action/animated reboot of the franchise received. While the movie gained a better reaction from audiences (64%), the overall consensus was that the film was entertaining enough for young children as a bright, jolly movie, but was more of a struggle for adults to sit through.
While the disappointing box office result could have derailed Paramount’s smurfy dreams, the film’s arrival on Paramount+ could spark a strong surge of interest in the coming days, as watching on TV means less requirement for parents to endure the movie with their children.
The release of the movie on Paramount+ follows its digital VOD release in August, and comes ahead of the movie’s 4k/Blu -ray release in October. Since Paramount revived their plans for The Smurfs, there have been several big changes at the studio thanks to the Skydance merger. How this will impact any future Smurf projects is yet to be seen, but the future of the franchise could rely on a strong performance of the movie on streaming.
