Chris Pratt’s Garfield Release Date Revealed
Here he comes for your lasagna!
Hollywood sometimes never learns its lesson. Despite the Bill Murray Garfield movies being a thing, Colombia Pictures announced the official release date for the next Garfield movie that will have Chris Pratt voicing the lazy orange cat. The movie is officially set to hit theaters on February 16, 2024. Samuel L Jackson is also apparently on board as a brand new cat — Garfield’s father Vic.
While Chris Pratt as Garfield is certainly an odd prospect, he definitely has the vocal chops for the role. His performances in The Lego Movie and Onward were enjoyable, though a little higher energy than you would expect for the lackadaisical feline from the Jim Davis comic strips. While Chris Pratt as Garfield has some potential, it’s not nearly as strange as the choice to cast him in the upcoming animated Mario movie. With that being said, the Super Mario Bros movie from Universal and Nintendo is filled with some head-scratching casting choices, so Pratt certainly isn’t alone in that respect.
One thing that sets the new Garfield project apart from its predecessors is the fact the movie will be fully animated, as opposed to the CGI and live-action hybrid of the Murray movies. The team behind the project also seems to be solid, as Mark Dindal (Cats Don’t Dance, Emperor’s New Groove) will be in the director’s chair. Also, the script will be handled by David Reynolds, who is an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter with projects like Finding Nemo, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and Mulan to his name. Garfield creator Jim Davis will be executive producing with John Cohen, Steven P. Wegner, Andrew Kosove, Broderick Johnson, Namit Malhotra, and Tom Jacomb attached to produce. Bridget McMeel and Craig Sost are also on as executive producers.
While people might not necessarily be hyped for Chris Pratt’s upcoming voice roles, they’re no doubt excited for his next live-action appearance. Pratt will be returning as Star-Lord in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, which is set to hit Disney+ in December. This should be an enjoyable, but important, prelude to the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which is set to be the end of the story for this iteration of the Guardians team. Along with Pratt returning as Star-Lord and James Gunn returning to direct, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will bring back Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax, Vin Diesel as Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, and Karen Gillan as Nebula. Will Poulter will also be appearing in the highly anticipated role of Adam Warlock. Peacemaker star Chukwudi Iwuji will also be appearing as The High Evolutionary. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is expected for a May 5, 2023 release.
At this point, there’s no telling if the Garfield movie with Chris Pratt will be comedy gold or a flop like the Bill Murray movies. We’ll just have to wait until 2024 to find out for sure. Worst case scenario, Pratt could also show up in a Zombieland movie and express his regrets for his version of Garfield.
