I guess Mondays aren’t all bad. There is only one feline that hates Mondays, and that is our grumpy lasagna-loving cat named Garfield. And guess who gets to play him in the upcoming animated film from Alcon Entertainment and Sony Pictures? Chris Pratt, that’s who.
THR has reported that Alcon Entertainment co-founders and co-CEOs Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson announced the casting news Monday that Pratt will play the grumpy cat in the upcoming Garfield animated film. Sony Pictures will release the animated film in all major regions except China.
The director behind the hilarious animated films like Chicken Little and Emperor’s New Groove, Mark Dindal, is on board to direct this new version of Garfield. This is based on the iconic comic strip of the same name, which David Reynolds (Finding Nemo) is writing the script for.
No plot details have been confirmed, but Garfield covers the exploits of a cynical and lazy orange cat of the same name, as well as his relationships with his owner, Jon Arbuckle, and his other pet, Odie.
The comic strip by cartoonist Jim Davis first appeared in 41 newspapers in June 1978, but it would eventually run in 2,580 newspapers and magazines, with an estimated viewership of 260 million. Garfield currently holds the global record for the most widely syndicated comic strip.
This is hardly the first time Hollywood and Garfield have worked together. The most notable version was the 20th Century Fox 2004 film entitled Garfield: The Movie and its 2006 sequel Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, both of which starred Bill Murray as the furry cat.
Before the Garfield casting news, Pratt was cast to play Mario in the untitled Illumination Entertainment project about Super Mario Bros, which is currently in production