The Garfield Movie | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Mark Dindal |
Screenplay by |
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Based on | Garfield by Jim Davis |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Edited by | Mark Keefer |
Music by | John Debney |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Columbia Pictures (through Sony Pictures Releasing) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 101 minutes [2] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $60 million [3] |
Box office | $257.2 million [1] [4] |
The Garfield Movie is a 2024 American animated comedy film based on the comic strip Garfield created by Jim Davis. Directed by Mark Dindal from a screenplay by Paul A. Kaplan, Mark Torgove, and David Reynolds, the film stars Chris Pratt 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. In the film, Garfield is reunited with his long-lost father, a street cat named Vic, before being forced into joining him on a high-stakes adventure. It is the sixth Garfield film adaptation, the third theatrically-released one, and the first since Garfield's Pet Force , which was released fifteen years prior.
Development on The Garfield Movie started at Alcon Entertainment in May 2016. Dindal was announced as the film's director in November 2018, and pre-production began the following month. By 2021, Sony Pictures had already purchased the film rights for global distribution and Pratt was cast as Garfield, with the rest of the cast joining the following year. The film was animated by DNEG Animation, while John Debney, a frequent collaborator of Dindal, composed the score.
The Garfield Movie premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on May 19, 2024, and was released in the United States by Columbia Pictures through Sony Pictures Releasing on May 24, 2024. Upon release, the film received generally negative reviews from critics who criticized its unfaithfulness to the source material while the animation and voice acting received praise. Nevertheless, it was a box-office success, grossing $257.2 million worldwide against a $60 million budget.
Garfield is an obese, sedentary, orange tabby cat who lives a pampered lifestyle with his beagle dog sidekick, Odie, and their owner, Jon Arbuckle. One night, while getting a midnight snack, Garfield and Odie are abducted by Roland, Nolan, and Barry. Garfield and Odie are soon rescued by Vic, Garfield's estranged father, whom he resents, believing that Vic had abandoned him in an alley when he was a kitten. Jinx, a deranged Persian cat whom Vic has a history with, arrives to exact revenge for leaving her behind during a milk heist at Lactose Farms before she was caught and imprisoned at the animal shelter. She bargains to forgive Vic if he, Garfield, and Odie break into Lactose Farms to steal a large quantity of milk as compensation for her imprisonment while Roland and Nolan closely observe them, which they reluctantly agree to after she eats Barry.
The following morning, Jon notices Garfield and Odie’s disappearance but has trouble calling people to help search for them. Freighthopping a train to Lactose Farms, Vic attempts to bond with Garfield to no avail. The three reach the farm, which is heavily guarded by an advanced security system. They meet Otto, a Highland bull and the farm's former mascot, who was cast out after a corporation took over, separating him from his cow girlfriend, Ethel. They agree to help get Ethel out of the farm if he helps them break in.
While preparing for the heist, Garfield and Vic frequently clash with each other, forcing Odie and Otto to tie them to a tree. During a heated argument, Vic forlornly reveals that he was actually obtaining food for Garfield but finds Jon taking care of him in an Italian restaurant he wandered off to. Solemnly accepting Jon as a better care provider, Vic lets him adopt Garfield and keeps his distance from his son. Understanding the circumstances, Garfield forgives his dad. Meanwhile, Roland and Nolan report to Jinx, but she calls the farm's animal control officer, Marge Malone, to frame them for it.
Guided by Otto, the trio successfully infiltrates the farm, but Marge intercepts them at the loading dock and captures Garfield and Odie. Vic remorsefully leaves them behind despite his son's pleas, steals the milk truck, and successfully delivers it to Jinx, only to be betrayed and captured by her.
Garfield and Odie are taken to the pound, and Garfield meets Vic's old crewmates, who kicked Vic out because he was constantly leaving their capers to check up on Garfield, watching from afar whenever he visits him, but Garfield refuses to believe them. Jon unexpectedly arrives to bail Garfield and Odie out and takes them home. Garfield finds Vic's tally marks on an old oak tree across from his house that the cat crew told him about, realizing that Vic does love him and only left him and Odie behind at the farm to keep them safe from Jinx, having deduced she wouldn't forgive him.
With his faith in his dad restored, Garfield decides to go save him at the mall, where he and Odie learn that Jinx intends to murder Vic by throwing him off a canyon from a viaduct's train into hoodooss at the bottom of the canyon and a ravine. Garfield and Odie, along with Otto and an army of drones, arrive to rescue him, but they eventually fail, leaving the father-son cat duo at Jinx's mercy. However, upon seeing Vic's genuine love for his son, Roland and Nolan turn on Jinx. Enraged, Jinx pushes the four off the train, only to be knocked off herself by an overpass and fall into the canyon. Otto swings a rope to catch them all and safely lands them on a net set up by Odie, also apprehending Jinx. They later return to the farm by the milk truck and bring Jinx to Marge in exchange for Ethel's release, finally reuniting her with Otto. The reformed Roland and Nolan begin working as guard dogs for Marge, while Jinx ends up sentenced to community service as punishment for her crimes.
Returning home, Garfield finally reconciles with Vic, who moves in with the trio and officially becomes a part of his son's life.
In May 2016, seven years after 20th Century Fox's license with Paws, Inc. expired, it was announced that Alcon Entertainment would develop a sixth Garfield film, with John Cohen and Steven P. Wegner producing, from a script by Mark Torgove and Paul A. Kaplan. [7] [8] Warner Bros. was considered a likely distributor given their partnership with Alcon, and Alcon also intended to launch a franchise of CG-animated Garfield films. [9] Mark Dindal was announced as director in November 2018, with pre-production beginning the following month. [10] [11] In November 2021, David Reynolds was announced to write the film, reuniting with Dindal after having previously worked together on Disney's The Emperor's New Groove (2000). [12] Sony Pictures would distribute the film under its Columbia Pictures label except for China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and DNEG Animation would provide the animation. [12] By September 2023, it was reported that the film would be entitled The Garfield Movie. [13] [14]
In November 2021, Chris Pratt was announced to star as Garfield. In May 2022, it was reported that Samuel L. Jackson joined the film as Garfield's father, Vic. [15] In August 2022, Ving Rhames, Nicholas Hoult, Hannah Waddingham and Cecily Strong were added to the cast. [16] In November 2022, Brett Goldstein and Bowen Yang were added to the cast. [17] Harvey Guillén was confirmed to voice Odie in November 2023, [18] and Hoult was later confirmed to voice Jon Arbuckle in December 2023. [19] With the release of the second trailer in March 2024, Snoop Dogg was revealed to star in the film, and Janelle James was also announced to star the same month. [6] [20]
Garfield creator Jim Davis has approved of Pratt's casting as Garfield, believing his performance embraced "all sides of the character" and not just Garfield's deadpan humor. [21] Pratt was also director Mark Dindal's first choice to voice Garfield, believing "he had been 'imagining [Pratt's] voice coming out of Garfield' for years". [21] Dindal believed that his natural voice captured Garfield's laziness and sarcasm, and to test the compatibility, the animators have paired his voice with snippets of Garfield's dialogue. [22]
Animation services for the film were provided by DNEG Animation. [23] [24] Visual effects supervisor Freddy Chaleur recalled Dindal expressing to DNEG that "the aim and goal of the film [was] to pay homage to Jim Davis and the comic strip," with Davis himself being involved early on in pre-production. [24]
Animation supervisor Karun Reddy explained that the team aimed to "capture the 2D aesthetic of the comic" in a 3D space, and deemed "overcoming the technical difficulties associated with fur and exaggerated animation" to be the most challenging task. [23] Character rigs were designed with "multiple arms, legs and eyes" to allow for more exaggerated poses; "classic Garfield shapes" from the strips were also used as reference points. [23] Additionally, the team sought to translate the "painterly, handmade quality" of the production’s concept art into the finished film, which was done in part by "incorporat[ing] brush strokes and handmade details to achieve a softer look." [23]
In November 2023, it was reported that John Debney would compose the film's score, marking his third collaboration with Dindal following Disney's The Emperor's New Groove (2000) and Chicken Little (2005). [25] Snoop Dogg collaborated with Keith Urban on an original song for the film titled "Let It Roll", which was released as a single on April 12, 2024. [26] Another single titled "Then There Was You" was released by Calum Scott in May 2024. [27] On May 15, 2024, yet another single titled "Good Life", this time from Jon Batiste, was released. [28] The soundtrack was released on May 17, 2024, by Republic Records.
A musical number titled "I'm Back" was sung by Hannah Waddingham for her character Jinx. However, Waddingham did not record it until after the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Not long after recording, the crew discovered that they had run out of time to animate the song's sequence, and the song was subsequently cut from the film, but it does appear in the end credits of the final film, along with parts of the animatic of its sequence. [29]
The Garfield Movie was theatrically released earlier in international markets on May 1, 2024, [30] and later in the United States on May 24, 2024. [31] It was previously scheduled for release domestically on February 16, 2024. [32]
On May 12, 2024, the film had special previews for cinemas across the United Kingdom; the previews were for MediCinema. [33] The film also had its world premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on May 19, 2024. [34]
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the film on digital download on July 9, 2024, [35] and it was made available on DVD and Blu-ray on August 27. [36]
The Garfield Movie grossed $91.9 million in the United States and Canada and $162.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $254.8 million. [4] [1]
In the United States and Canada, The Garfield Movie was released alongside Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and Sight , and was projected to gross around $30 million from 4,000 theaters in its four-day opening weekend. [39] The film made $8.4 million on its first day, including $1.9 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $24.8 million (and a total of $31.1 million over the four days), finishing second behind Furiosa. [40] In its second weekend the film dropped 42% to $14 million, finishing in first. [41]
The film opened in 18 countries on May 3, and grossed $22 million in its first weekend. Its largest markets were Mexico ($8.8 million), [42] Spain ($3.2 million), Brazil ($2.2 million), Italy ($1.6 million), and Peru ($1.3 million). [43]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 37% of 136 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.8/10.The website's consensus reads: "The Garfield Movie rolls along at a zany enough clip to be diverting for kids, but this animated adventure doesn't much resemble Jim Davis' iconically grumpy creation." [44] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 31 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. [45] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale (the same as the live-action films), while those polled by PostTrak gave it an overall positive score of 73%. [40]
In a negative review, Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter criticized the film's unfaithfulness to the comic, writing, "As anyone familiar with cartoonist Jim Davis' iconic feline character knows, Garfield doesn't like to move around very much. He likes to eat, particularly pepperoni pizza and lasagna, and he likes to lie around and make sarcastic comments. In other words, he's not a cat of action. And yet for some reason, the creators of the new animated film revolving around him think that what the audience really wants is to watch Garfield engage in Mission: Impossible -style, stunt-laden violent mayhem." [46] Brandon Yu of The New York Times criticized the quality of the animation, stating the film was "visually flat, with compositions that seem oddly half-populated and cheap", [47] while a review in The Guardian went as far as to call it a "foul feline origin tale littered with product placement". [48] A mixed review for TheWrap , however, praised certain aspects of the film mildly and conceded, "While this new film isn't especially funny it's still a reasonably enjoyable kids flick. It's short on laughs but surprisingly big on tenderness." [49]
The film was nominated at the 2024 Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite Animated Movie, but lost to another Columbia Pictures animated film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse . [50]
Upon the film's May 2016 announcement, it was revealed that Alcon Entertainment intended to launch a franchise of Garfield films. [9]