Per Variety, Chris Pratt has been cast as the voice of Garfield in Sony’s new animated adaptation from Alcon Entertainment. The currently untitled project will be directed by Mark Dindal (The Emperor’s New Groove, Chicken Little) from a script by David Reynolds (Finding Nemo), who collaborated with the director before on The Emperor’s New Groove.
Although plot details are being kept under wraps, the movie will draw inspiration from the long-running comic strip created by cartoonist Jim 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 the film. There is currently no release date for the project.
The upcoming film isn’t Garfield’s first time with Hollywood as Bill Murray voiced the titular feline in 2004’s Garfield: The Movie and its 2006 sequel Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties – which were both commercially successful but received terrible reviews. The previous two films were both live-action/animation hybrids but Pratt’s film will be solely animated.
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This isn’t Pratt’s first time in voice acting, having led Disney and Pixar’s animated adventure Onward as well as The Lego Movie and its sequel The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. He has also recently been cast as the voice of Mario in Universal’s upcoming Super Mario Bros. animated film – which has been somewhat divisive amongst fans. Pratt was last seen in Amazon’s sci-fi film The Tomorrow War and will appear next in Jurassic World: Dominion. He is currently filming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
