Despite – or perhaps because of – his popularity seemingly peaking in the 1980s, Jim Davis' cartoon cat creation Garfield has already had two trips to the cinema, with 2004's CG/live-action Garfield and its sequel, A Tail Of Two Kitties, which followed in 2006. And though there have been several animated TV movies, the lasagne-loving feline is coming back for an all-animated film now in development at Alcon Entertainment.
Garfield's history stretches back to his comic-strip roots in 1978 before the idea exploded in the 1980s into a pop culture sensation, landing on branded merchandise of all stripes and a number of TV series and specials. The films saw Bill Murray as the voice of the chatty cat, who famously says that he only signed on because he thought one of the Coen brothers was involved. Could he be tempted again? John Cohen, who has just had a hit with The Angry Birds Movie, is producing this one, so they might try their luck by fudging a fax to Murray.
Nothing else is known except that the company wants to turn the idea into at least one movie, which we'd expect to see populated by Garfield's owner, Jon Arbuckle and loyal, goofy dog sidekick Odie. Mondays will likely be hated and lashings of food consumed, but do they have the guts to follow one of the classic 1989 strips where Garfield is shocked to discover he's been abandoned and may not even have existed? Probably a little too existential for family viewing...