During Paramount Pictures’ buzzy and busy CinemaCon presentation, the studio announced the star-powered voice cast behind its upcoming fully-animated The Smurfs movie, slated to hit theaters on February 14, 2025. The untitled musical adventure is the first project out of the recent creative partnership between Paramount Animation, Nickelodeon Animation, LAFIG Belgium and IMPS, the company that owns the Smurfs brand.
Joining Rihanna, who was announced as the voice of Smurfette at the 2023 CinemaCon, are Nick Offerman, Natasha Lyonne, JP Karliak, Daniel Levy, Amy Sedaris, Nick Kroll, James Corden, Octavia Spencer, Hannah Waddingham, Sandra Oh, Alex Winter, Billie Lourd and Xolo Maridueña, with Kurt Russell and John Goodman.
The latest big screen outing featuring Peyo’s beloved characters is being directed by Chris Miller (Puss in Boots, Shrek the Third) and co-directed by Matt Landon. Cinesite Vancouver (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem) is providing animation services.
Voice stars Chris Hemsworth and Bryan Tyree Henry came onstage to introduce extended sneak-peek footage from the 3D CG Transformers One feature. The first fully-animated movie from the blockbuster Hasbro toy-based franchise since The Transformers: The Movie (1986) will open September 13.
The new movie tells “the long-awaited origin story of how the most iconic characters in the Transformers universe, Orion Pax and D-16, went from brothers-in-arms to become sworn enemies, Optimus Prime and Megatron.” The advance look previewed a sequence in which Orion Pax (Hemsworth), D-16 (Tyree Henry), B-127 (Keegan-Michael Key) and Elita-1 (Scarlett Johansson) attempt a heist from a moving train and wind up on the animate surface of Cybertron. The audience also learned that the bots are seeking the Matrix of Leadership in this outing, a call back to 1980s flick.
The voice cast also features Laurence Fishburne, Steve Buscemi and Jon Hamm. Oscar winner Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4, Riley’s First Date?) directs from a script by Ant-Man and the Wasp duo Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari.
[Sources: The Wrap, Deadline]
