Finally, a Monday that Garfield can feel good about. On the lasagna-loving cat’s least favorite day of the week, Chris Pratt has been set to voice the famous feline in a new animated feature film.
Alcon Entertainment is producing the movie, with Sony Pictures on board to release Garfield’s latest adventure in theaters globally (excluding China). A release date will be announced at another time.
Though plot details haven’t been confirmed, the movie draws inspiration from the long-running comic strip created by cartoonist Jim Davis. The exploits of the cynical and lazy orange cat Garfield, his owner Jim Arbuckle and fellow pet Odie have appeared in more than 2,580 newspapers and journals since the comic strip first debuted in June 1978. Garfield currently holds the record for being the most widely syndicated comic strip in the world.
The still-untitled project will be written by David Reynolds (“Finding Nemo”) and directed by Mark Dindal (“Chicken Little,” “Emperor’s New Groove”). Alcon acquired the rights from Davis, who will also serve as an executive producer with Bridget McMeel from Amuse and Craig Sost. John Cohen (“Despicable Me,” “Angry Birds”) and Steven P. Wegner will produce along with Alcon principals Kosove and Johnson. Along with Alcon Entertainment, DNEG Animation will animate and produce the film. DNEG CEO Namit Malhotra and DNEG president Tom Jacomb will serve as producers.
The upcoming film is hardly Garfield’s first bout with Hollywood. Bill Murray voiced the eponymous cat in 2004’s “Garfield: The Movie” and its 2006 sequel “Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties.” Those movies, from 20th Century Fox, were commercially successful despite receiving terrible reviews. Garfield has also been the subject of several direct-to-video films, including “Garfield Gets Real,” “Garfield’s Fun Fest” and “Garfield’s Pet Force.”
Pratt is no stranger to voice work, having recently led Disney and Pixar’s animated adventure “Onward” and the Warner Bros. toy-based “Lego Movie” franchise. His casting as Mario in Universal’s new “Super Mario Bros.” adaptation has been somewhat divisive because Pratt isn’t Italian (nor is he a plumber). In that film, he will be joined by a star-studded voice cast that features Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser and Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong.
Pratt, in human form, was last seen in Amazon’s sci-fi epic “The Tomorrow War” and will appear next in “Jurassic World: Dominion.” He is repped by UTA, Rise Management, and Sloane, Offer, Weber and Dern. Reynolds is repped by The Gersh Agency.
The Hollywood Reporter first reported the news of Pratt’s casting.
This story first appeared on Variety.com.