The Garfield Movie is an upcoming American animated comedy adventure film based on Jim Davis’ comic strip Garfield.
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- The Garfield Movie is an upcoming American animated comedy adventure film.
- It was based on Jim Davis’ comic strip Garfield.
- It was produced by Columbia Pictures and Alcon Entertainment.
- Directed by Mark Dindal.
- The screenplay was written by David Reynolds and the writing team of Paul A. Kaplan and Mark Torgove.
- Chris Pratt stars as the voice of the titular character, alongside the voices of Samuel L. Jackson, Hannah Waddingham, Ving Rhames, Nicholas Hoult, Cecily Strong, Harvey Guillén, Brett Goldstein, Bowen Yang, and Snoop Dogg.
- Development on a new animated Garfield film began in May 2016, with producers and writers already attached.
- Dindal was announced as the film’s director in November 2018, and pre-production began the following month.
- Despite Viacom acquiring most of the rights to Garfield in August 2019, production proceeded without their involvement.
- In November 2021, Sony purchased the distribution rights for the film, and Pratt was cast as Garfield. The rest of the cast joined in 2022.
- John Debney, a frequent collaborator of Dindal, composed the score.
- The Garfield Movie is set to be theatrically released in the United States on May 24, 2024.
- This is Samuel L. Jackson’s second time voicing a cat after Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank (2022).
- The film will be released in May 2024 which will mark the 20th anniversary of the first live action film Garfield: The Movie (2004) as well as the 40th anniversary of the TV special Garfield in the Rough (1984).
- Plans for an animated Garfield feature film was planned in 1990 as Garfield’s Judgement Day which was to have Garfield saving the town from a terrible storm, but the project was abandoned due to the story feeling too dark and mysterious.
- This is the third theatrical Garfield movie. The first two were Garfield: The Movie (2004) and Garfield 2 (2006). However, this is the first theatrical Garfield movie to be an animated film unlike the previous two, which were live-action.
- Alcon Entertainment’s first animated film.
- In the trailer for the movie Garfield as a kitten crosses the street and there’s a place he passes by called Lorenzo’s Music Store which is a nod to Garfield’s original voice actor Lorenzo Music.
- The film is dedicated to the memory of Randy Fullmer, who died on July 10, 2023 from a battle with cancer, before the release date.
- Frank Welker, who’s voiced Garfield since 2007, expressed his disappointment at not being asked to voice the character for this film.
- Chris Pratt was born on June 21st, 1979, a year after the Garfield comic strip appeared in newspapers and two days after Garfield’s first birthday.
- This will be the first animated production of Garfield since 1983 where Liz Wilson is voiced by someone other than Julie Payne.
- This second film to credit as “Alcon Media Group” presents after Blade Runner 2049 (2017).
- This will be the first film directed by Mark Dindal to be rated PG by the MPA.
- This will be the first animated Garfield project since 2007 where Garfield and Jon are being voiced by someone other than either Frank Welker and Wally Wingert.
- Dev Joshi was born on June 26th, 1993, exactly 14 years after Liz Wilson’s first appearance in the comic strip on June 26th, 1979.
- The first film from Columbia Pictures since Sausage Party (2016) not to be made by Sony Pictures Animation.
- Originally planned to be released on February 16th 2024 before getting pushed up to May 24th 2024.
- Nickelodeon Movies confirmed their involvement in producing the film, despite their purchase of the TV rights.
- This is the only Garfield animated film to be distributed by Columbia Pictures. Because Viacom purchased the film rights of Garfield in 2019, Sony approached Nickelodeon Movies to co-produce the film, and Paramount Pictures handled on home media release and future films.
