What if DreamWorks Pictures/DreamWorks Animation was founded in 1934?/The Smurfs

The Smurfs is a 2011 American 3D live-action/computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the comics series of the same name created by the Belgian comics artist Peyo. It was directed by Raja Gosnell and stars Hank Azaria, Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays and Sofía Vergara, with the voices Jonathan Winters , Katy Perry , George Lopez , Anton Yelchin , Fred Armisen, and Alan Cumming . It is the second live-action/animated film produced by DreamWorks Pictures, and the first of two live-action/animated Smurfs feature films. The film tells the story of the Smurfs as they get lost in New York, and try to find a way to get back home before Gargamel catches them.

After five years of negotiations, Jordan Kerner bought the rights in 2002, and the film entered development with Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies, until DreamWorks Pictures obtained the ownership rights to The Smurfs in 2006. Filming began in March 2010 in New York City.

After having the release date changed three times, DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures released The Smurfs on July 29, 2011. Box office analysts initially predicted the film would tie with Cowboys & Aliens, but The Smurfs ultimately came in second, grossing $35.6 million against Cowboys & Aliens ' $36.4 million gross. The Smurfs reached the $500 million milestone in the weekend of September 23–25, 2011.

A sequel, titled The Smurfs 2: Misadventure in Paris, was released on July 31, 2013.

Plot
As the Smurfs get ready for the Blue Moon Festival, Papa Smurf sees in his cauldron a vision of Clumsy Smurf reaching for a dragon wand and the Smurfs in cages while Gargamel laughs. Not wanting this vision to come true, Papa Smurf disallows Clumsy to pick Smurf Roots. Clumsy disobeys Papa and ends up unintentionally leading Gargamel and Azrael to the village. The Smurfs all flee for their lives while Clumsy unknowingly runs towards the Forbidden Falls, with Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Grouchy, Brainy and Gutsy running after him. They find him at the edge of a cliff, and while trying to help him up, they are sucked into a gigantic vortex that spirits them to New York City. To make matters worse, Gargamel and Azrael follow them through the vortex. The Smurfs end up in the apartment of Patrick and Grace Winslow, a married and expectant couple, and their Basset Hound Elway. After introducing themselves and explaining their situation, the Winslows befriend them and allow them to stay in their apartment. The next day, needing to find a telescope, the Smurfs follow Patrick to his workplace at Anjelou Cosmetics, misunderstanding the previous explanation of his job as fortune-telling. He calls Grace to pick them up.

However, having extracted "Smurf essence" from a lock of Smurfette's hair, Gargamel also arrives at Anjelou Cosmetics and ends up being treated favorably by Patrick's boss Odile when he uses most of his acquired magic on her elderly mother by restoring her youth and attractiveness. But Gargamel resumes his search upon recognizing Patrick and following him to FAO Schwarz, but gets arrested after stealing a leaf blower and for causing chaos in the store with some customers while trying to catch the Smurfs. Gargamel manages to bust out of prison with the aid of flies (he encountered a moth and told it to bring him eagles to help him escape). By that time, Papa Smurf manages to calculate the night he and the others can get home. But first, he must figure out the spell to do so. Patrick tells them that there is an old bookstore in the city near Anjelou Cosmetics that may contain the spell Papa Smurf needs. Meanwhile Patrick bonds with the Smurfs after sending what he believed to be his finished advertisement to be published. However, the next day, Patrick learns that Clumsy accidentally attached Patrick's first attempt at the advertisement (a blue-moon themed image that Patrick was not confident enough to submit) and he loses his temper before walking out on both the Smurfs and Grace to save his job.

Forced to search on their own, the Smurfs find the store and find the book L’Histoire des Schtroumpfs by researcher Peyo, containing the spell to turn the moon blue. But learning of their location, Gargamel sneaks into the bookstore and finds a dragon wand, transferring his magic into it as he uses it to capture Papa Smurf as he sends the others to safety. Though the Smurfs promised Papa Smurf that they won't try to save him and return home, Clumsy and Patrick, having seen the error of their actions after Grace gave him a sonogram picture of their baby, convince them to plan a rescue. At Belvedere Castle, after increasing the dragon wand's power with "Smurf essence" extracted from bits of Papa Smurf's beard, Gargamel finds himself facing all the Smurfs, summoned to New York by Brainy after he reopened the vortex by conjuring the blue moon. As the Smurf army battles Gargamel, Smurfette defeats Azrael and saves Papa Smurf before they join the fray. Though Gargamel attempts to break the Smurfs by killing Papa, Patrick saves him while Gutsy knocks the dragon wand out of the wizard's hand, but he drops it. Clumsy tries to catch it, and to Papa Smurf's surprise, is successful, and sends Gargamel flying into a trash can and being hit by a bus with the advertisement "Blue Moon" on it before Papa Smurf breaks it. Soon after, the Smurfs take their leave as Patrick receives a call from Odile that he still has his job because he finally gave her what she wants after she noticed the blue moon that Brainy created. Later, Patrick and Grace have a baby boy, whom they name Blue to honor the Smurfs, who rebuild their village in the style of New York.

In the aftermath, Gargamel wakes up and learns that he is still in New York and he looks at the audience before breaking the fourth wall and asking them "What are you looking at?" and blasts them with his wand.