Chris Pratt has been tapped to become the voice of Garfield in an animated movie, according to The Hollywood reporter.
Pratt will voice Garfield, the iconic, lazy cat that initially rose to fame in Jim Davis’ comic strips. The movie in which Pratt will be voice acting will be written by David Reynolds, who most notably wrote or co-wrote animated films Finding Nemo and The Emperor’s New Groove. Mark Dindal, who directed New Groove, will direct the new Garfield movie as well.
Garfield’s voice was previously portrayed by Bill Murray in two live-action/animated hybrid movies, Garfield: The Movie and Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties. The movies were released in 2004 and 2006, respectively, and were received poorly by critics and fans. The first movie has a 15 percent Tomatometer score and 37 percent Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes, while the second film has a 12 percent Tomatometer score and 43 percent Audience Score.
This is just another big voice acting role for Chris Pratt, who was cast as the voice of Mario in an animated movie set for release next year. Pratt also voiced Barley Lightfoot in the Disney animated film Onward, in addition to roles in The Lego Movie, The Lego Movie 2, and the short film Emmet’s Holiday Party.