Neil Patrick Harris kicks off Smurfs Week in New York

Neil Patrick Harris, Hank Azaria and Jayma Mays have turned New York City blue to mark the opening of their new live action movie The Smurfs.

The actors kicked off Smurfs Week NYC, a series of events centered 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 Neil Patrick Harris, Hank Azaria and Jayma Mays opened Smurf Village in Central Park, a themed kids' area complete with colourful 10-foot (three-meter) tall mushroom houses and a 40-foot (12.19-meter) tall inflatable Smurf.

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

Neil Patrick 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 later this week (29Jul11).