Paramount is really leaning into Rihanna’s fanbase in promoting its new Smurfs animated movie. Voicing Smurfette, Rihanna is the biggest name in a cast featuring James Corden, Nick Offerman, JP Karliak, Daniel Levy, Amy Sedaris, Natasha Lyonne, Sandra Oh, Octavia Spencer, Nick Kroll, Hannah Waddingham, Alex Winter, Maya Erskine, Billie Lourd, Xolo Maridueña with Kurt Russell and John Goodman. And now a new trailer for the film has been release, and the major selling point? It features a new Rihanna song, titled “Friend of Mine”, that can be preordered now.
Following three movies from Sony Pictures, Paramount and Nickelodeon take over with Smurfs, a new film from writer Pam Brady and director Chris Miller, best known for directing Shrek the Third and Puss in Boots, the latter earning Miller an Oscar nomination.
The previous Sony films earned over $1B globally, so this is a potentially huge franchise get for Paramount as audiences clearly love the Smurfs and want to see more.
Here’s the synopsis:
When Papa Smurf (John Goodman) is mysteriously taken by evil wizards, Razamel and Gargamel, Smurfette (Rihanna) leads the Smurfs on a mission into the real world to save him. With the help of new friends, the Smurfs must discover what defines their destiny to save the universe.
Smurfs opens in theaters on July 18th.
