Reviews — And Box Office — Look Dismal

By Pune Media On Jul 18, 2025

Topline

“Smurfs,” which billionaire pop star Rihanna stars in, produced and wrote music for, is shaping up to be both a critical and box office flop despite marketing that placed the billionaire’s name front and center.

Rihanna stars in, produced and wrote music for “Smurfs.” (Photo by Antoine Flament/Getty Images for … More Paramount Pictures)

Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

Key Facts

“Smurfs,” which opened in theaters Friday, failed to impress critics, earning just a 20% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The movie is also on track for a poor performance at the box office, with Deadline projecting Friday morning it could earn “anywhere in the high single digits to low teens” in its opening weekend, while Variety projected between $10 million and $12 million.

That total would be a rough start for “Smurfs,” which was reportedly produced on a budget of $58 million before marketing costs.

“Smurfs” looks to underperform despite a star-studded cast, led by actor-producer-singer Rihanna, who stars alongside James Corden, Nick Offerman, Sandra Oh, Natasha Lyonne, Jimmy Kimmel, Octavia Spencer and more celebrities.

Weeks before the film’s release, Rihanna—who has not released a proper album in almost a decade, much to her fans’ frustration—released the song “Friend of Mine” from the “Smurfs” soundtrack.

“Superman” is expected to best new releases “Smurfs” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer” at the box office this weekend, winning a second straight weekend with a projected gross of around $60 million, multiple outlets reported.

Chief Critics

Critics slammed the movie as unfunny and offering little appeal outside of Rihanna. Associated Press critic Jake Coyle said Rihanna gives the movie a “half-hearted injection of star power” and suggested the movie tried and failed to benefit from its basis on existing intellectual property, stating the viewer can “feel IP-rights pressures animating the entire enterprise.” Washington Post critic Michael O’Sullivan called the movie’s plot “all over the map” and “hard to follow,” criticizing its setting in a “multiverse.” The Telegraph critic Robbie Collin called it one of the “worst films” he has ever seen, stating it has the “charm and personality of a dented traffic cone,” questioning, “Did ChatGPT take a pass at the script? And if not, should it have?”

How Was “smurfs” Marketed?

Nearly every poster for the movie contained the same phrase: “Rihanna is Smurfette,” placing the billionaire front and center, though some social media users poked fun at the marketing tactic. “Would anyone out there care to explain the marketing to me?” one TikTok user said in a video that garnered nearly 300,000 likes, stating the “Rihanna is Smurfette” line is the “only consistent thing” about the marketing, with few mentions of co-stars or a director. In a one-star review, The Independent critic Clarisse Loughrey noted the film’s posters have “have repeatedly screamed at us that, ‘Rihanna is Smurfette’– as if that’s meant to trigger some kind of ecstatic revelation in itself,” questioning, “why, exactly, is Rihanna Smurfette?”

Key Background

The new “Smurfs” movie marks a reboot for the film franchise despite its waning success. Three “Smurfs” films were released between 2011 and 2017 to diminishing box office returns and universally negative reviews. The 2011 film, “The Smurfs,” was a commercial success, grossing $35 million in its opening weekend and $563 million for its entire worldwide theatrical run, making it the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2011. In 2017, “Smurfs: The Lost Village” grossed less than half of the first movie, making $197 million in its global run. In 2022, Nickelodeon Animation and Paramount Animation picked up the rights to the “Smurfs” franchise from Sony.

How Successful Is Rihanna’s Film Career?

Rihanna has forayed into film before, though her films have seldom clicked with critics. Her first major film role, “Battleship” (2012), was panned by critics and underperformed at the box office, grossing $303 million on a huge budget that exceeded $200 million. She played a leading voice role in “Home” (2015), which grossed nearly $400 million worldwide but earned a middling 53% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. She starred in “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” (2017), which was a box office bomb and earned mostly negative reviews. Rihanna was a member of the “Ocean’s Eight” ensemble cast, which was better received with a 69% Rotten Tomatoes score, and was commercially successful, grossing nearly $300 million on a $70 million budget. She has previously had success writing music for films: In 2023, she wrote and sang “Lift Me Up” for the “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” soundtrack, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned her an Oscar nomination.

Forbes Valuation

Rihanna is worth an estimated $1 billion, according to Forbes’ calculations. She is the world’s second-richest female musician, a title she previously held until Taylor Swift surpassed her after her highly profitable Eras Tour. Rihanna, whose real name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty, became a billionaire in 2021 largely due to the success of her cosmetics line, Fenty Beauty, as well as her lingerie line, Savage x Fenty.