On July 29 of last year, The Smurfs opened nationwide, and despite being largely loathed by critics was a box office smash. In just two weeks it had already banked $128 million worldwide, and so Sony giddily announced Smurfs 2 would descend on audiences in summer of 2013. The Smurfs went on to make more than $560 million worldwide, confirming to Sony that not only was a sequel a mandate, but also that they shouldn't change a thing.
Their next move was bringing back J. David Stem and David Weiss, who wrote the first movie, to draft Smurfs 2. Director Raja Gosnell—who is also responsible for Scooby Doo and Beverly Hills Chihuahua—is likewise set to return. All that's left, it seems to re-wrangle The Smurfs cast.
While none of the first feature's stars have yet to commit to a sequel, THR expects many of them will reprise their roles. But the news of the moment is that Christina Ricci has signed on to play Vexi, a sort of evil twin of Smurffettes's.
Now those who saw the movie may recall that Smurfette—in a weird real talk/gal pal bonding moment—confesses to Jayma Mays' character that she was actually created by Gargamel as part of an evil ploy, but has been accepted by the Smurfs as one of their own. It's an element from the TV show (I'm admittedly unfamiliar with the original Belgian comic) that's disconcerting because of its gender implications—since Smurfette was the only female character in Smurfville for a long time—and was introduced to destroy them. But in the context of the movie it also managed to totally undercut the plot where Gargamel pursues the Smurfs to use them for magic, because a little bit of Smurfette's hair contained enough—I don't know—Smurfiness to work. So why chase them? Why not just create another Smurf? It seems this is where the sequel will go, though whether the story will stay confined to the Smurf's dimension is unknown.
If you, like me, did not enjoy The Smurfs movie, I suggest listening to the podcast How Did This Get Made, which serves as a brilliant catharsis for being oversmurfed.
