Rihanna has ‘Smurfs’ on the brain for her next movie: ‘Hope this gives me cool points’
Rihanna, who is several months pregant with her second child, is putting in the work, work, work for her next Hollywood project.
The “Lift Me Up” singer announced Thursday at CinemaCon that she will star in Paramount and Nickelodeon’s upcoming “Smurfs” film, The Times has confirmed. The singer will be pulling triple duty as she stars as “blue badass” Smurfette, writes and performs original music for the film, and serves as a producer.
“I get to show up in my PJs in my third trimester,” she said, according to the Hollywood Reporter. “I hope this gives me cool points with my kids one day.”
The pop superstar played her first show in years — and sparked immediate speculation online about her family — in her halftime performance at Super Bowl LVII.
“Smurfs” previously got the movie treatment with several films from Sony Pictures Animation. Pop star Katy Perry lent her voice to Smurfette in “The Smurfs” and “The Smurfs 2.”
Rihanna’s CinemaCon appearance comes two months after she made her music comeback during the Super Bowl LVII halftime show in February.
The Super Bowl performance also served as a sort of baby announcment, with confirmation soon following that the Grammy winner and Fenty Beauty founder is expecting a second child with boyfriend ASAP Rocky. The couple welcomed their first child, a baby boy, in May 2022.
Rihanna made her debut on TikTok this weekend, but her first clip was all about her infant son, whom she welcomed in May with rapper ASAP Rocky.
The “Smurfs” movie will be Rihanna’s second animated venture. She previously lent her voice to the 2015 alien-on-the-run family film “Home.”
She has also appeared in several live-action films, including “Battleship,” “This Is the End,” “Annie” and “Ocean’s Eight.” In 2019, she and Donald Glover shared the screen in Prime Video’s “Guava Island.”
On social media, Rihanna’s announcement was met with mixed reactions. Fans desperate for new music (2016’s “Anti” is her most recent album) joked about the “Smurfs” music taking priority.
“This woman will give us anything and everything but an album, huh??,” one Twitter user wrote. “She hates us.”
The Federal Communications Commission received grievances about Rihanna’s ‘obscene’ halftime show, citing sexual lyrics and choreography as inappropriate.
“Rihanna being in a Smurf’s movie before giving us a new album is so her omg,” said another user.
A third said RiRi might have a more personal reason for taking the “Smurfs” role.
“What if Rihanna is starring in the Smurf movie so Baby Fenty can watch,” they said.
The currently untitled “Smurfs” movie is set to premiere on Feb. 14, 2025. It is based on the characters created by Belgian artist Peyo Culliford.
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