Neil Patrick Harris - Harris & Azaria Kick Off Smurfs Week Nyc

The actors kicked off Smurfs Week Nyc, a series of events centred around the family comedy, in the Big Apple on Sunday (24Jul11) by walking the red carpet with co-stars Katy Perry and Sofia Vergara at the film's world premiere.

They continued the celebrations on Monday morning (25Jul11) when Harris, Azaria and Mays opened Smurf Village in Central Park, a themed kids' area complete with colourful 10-foot (three-metre) tall mushroom houses and a 40-foot (12.19-metre) tall inflatable Smurf.

The trio was also joined by two people dressed up as cuddly characters Papa Smurf and Smurfette.

Harris later switched on the lights at the top of the Empire State Building, which shone bright blue.

Smurfs Week, created in partnership with the New York tourism board, is set to continue with events at famed toy store Fao Schwarz, where part of the movie was filmed, and at the Brooklyn Children's Museum.

The Smurfs film, based on fictional blue characters created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo, opens across the U.S. later this week (29Jul11).