The Garfield Movie

Overview

Transcript

Gallery

This article is about the 2024 all-CGI movie. For the similarly-titled 2004 live-action movie, see Garfield: The Movie.

The Garfield Movie
Directed by	Mark Dindal
Produced by	Producers: John Cohen Steve Wegner Broderick Johnson Andrew Kosove Namit Malhotra Tom Jacomb Executive Producers: Jim Davis Bridget McNeel Craig Sost
Written by	Paul Kaplan Mark Torgove David Reynolds
Music by	John Debney
Editing by	Mark Keefer
Studio	Columbia Pictures Alcon Entertainment DNEG Animation Prime Focus One Cool Group Limited Wayfarer Studios Stage 6 Films (uncredited)
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Releasing
Release Date(s)	May 24th, 2024 (U.S.) By Country
Language	English
Budget	$60 million
Box Office	$231.3 million

The Garfield Movie is a 2024 CGI film based on the Garfield franchise. The film was animated by DNEG, produced by Alcon Entertainment, Prime Focus, and Paws Incorporated, and was distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment through Columbia Pictures.

Official synopsis

Garfield (voiced by Chris Pratt), the world-famous, Monday-hating, lasagna-loving indoor cat, is about to have a wild outdoor adventure! After an unexpected reunion with his long-lost father — scruffy street cat Vic (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) — Garfield and his canine friend Odie are forced from their perfectly pampered life into joining Vic in a hilarious, high-stakes heist.

Plot

The movie starts off with a flashback to Garfield as a kitten, Vic leaves him in the alleyway. Garfield sees Jon eating at an Italian restaurant, and looks through the window at Jon. Jon lets Garfield in, at which point Garfield eats all of Jon's food, and then goes around the gold-leash restaurant eating all the food. Jon finds Garfield in a box of lasagna, and then adopts Garfield after Garfield eats all the lasagna.

It then cuts to the present day, where Garfield is ordering lasagna. At night, Garfield goes to the fridge to get a midnight snack, but two dogs capture him and Odie. They are taken to a place where they meet Jinx, and a mysterious cat frees Garfield and Odie. Garfield recognizes this cat as Vic, and then Jinx recaptures them and forces them to go to Lactose Farms to get milk. There, they meet Otto who tells them that Marge has separated him and Ethel, and he wants Garfield to get them back. They make a plan to break into the farm, with Herbie making a cameo.

Garfield, Odie, and Vic get into the farm, but Jinx calls Marge telling her about the break-in. Vic leaves Garfield and Odie, who get captured by Animal Control. Vic then meets Jinx, who captures him. At the pound, the captured cats tell Garfield how Vic would watch him eat lasagna. Jon comes to the pound and frees Garfield and Odie. Garfield realizes he needs to save Vic, so he and Odie go to the train where Jinx has captured Vic. They rescue Vic, who Jinx had planned to off at a bridge.

Afterward, they get Ethel from Marge, and Ethel and Otto are reunited. Garfield asks Vic if he wants to live with Jon, and Vic refuses. However, Odie starts whining, so Garfield and Odie go to find Vic. Vic agrees to live with Jon and they eat lasagna made by Garfield. In the epilogue, Nermal is seen eating cake at the party.

Voice cast

• Chris Pratt as Garfield
• Nicholas Hoult as Jon Arbuckle
• Harvey Guillén as Odie
• Samuel L. Jackson as Vic
• Hannah Waddingham as Jinx
• Ving Rhames as Otto
• Cecily Strong as Marge Malone
• Brett Goldstein as Roland
• Bowen Yang as Nolan
• Alicia Grace Turrell as Ethel
• Angus Cloud as Snickers
• Dev Joshi as Liz Wilson
• Snoop Dogg as Maurice
• Cameron Bernard Jones as Barry
• Janelle James as Olivia

Production

The film was first announced on May 23, 2016. The film was produced in CGI and released to theaters on May 24, 2024. It has grossed $231.3 million worldwide against an estimated budget of $60 million.

Jim Davis and Bridget McNeel serve as executive producers. John Cohen, Steve Wegner, Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove are attached as producers. It is the first movie released after the sale of Davis' Paws Incorporated to Viacom (now Paramount Global) in 2019.

On November 12, 2018, it was announced that Mark Dindal would direct the film, with Paul Kaplan and Mark Torgove writing the screenplay. Pre-production began in December of 2018.

On November 1, 2021, it was announced that Garfield would be voiced by Chris Pratt, and that the film will be distributed by Sony Pictures.

On May 24, 2022, Samuel L. Jackson was confirmed as the voice of Garfield's father, who has been given the name Vic.

On August 17, 2022, Ving Rhames, Nicholas Hoult, Hannah Waddingham and Cecily Strong were announced to be part of the film's voice cast in unspecified roles.

On November 7, 2022, Brett Goldstein and Bowen Yang were announced to be part of the film's voice cast in unspecified roles.

On November 13, 2023, the first official trailer for the movie was released. It included a promotion for the public to send in videos of their dogs and cats, for a chance to have the videos included in the promotional campaign.

Marketing

Included at the end of the official trailer was a promotion for viewers to send in videos of their cats or dogs acting like Garfield for a chance to have the video included in the marketing campaign for the movie. Suggested activities in the video submissions include being hungry, lazy, mischievous or hilarious.

Release

The Garfield Movie was initially scheduled for release on February 16, 2024. In November of 2022, when more of the cast was announced, the release was scheduled for May 24, 2024. It was apparently delayed "due to the post-production jam", along with other films from Sony Pictures.

The official trailer, released on November 13, 2023, states the film will be released to theaters in "Summer 2024".

The music video for "Let It Roll" was released on April 12, 2024, promoting the song release and film.

The film was released for digital download on July 9, 2024. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 27.

Dates of release per country

Date	Countries
April 30th, 2024	Mexico
May 1st, 2024	Brazil, Spain, Italy, Netherlands
May 2nd, 2024	Argentina, Greece, Slovakia
May 8th, 2024	Denmark
May 9th, 2024	Austria, Germany
May 14th, 2024	Estonia
May 15th, 2024	South Korea
May 16th, 2024	Czech Republic
May 17th, 2024	India, Romania
May 18th, 2024	Latvia
May 22nd, 2024	Lithuania
May 23rd, 2024	Albania, Azerbaijan, Bahrain Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Lebanon, Montenegro, North Macedonia, New Zealand, Oman, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovenia Switzerland, United Arab Emirates
May 24th, 2024	Bulgaria, Canada, Egypt, Finland, Ghana, Iceland Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, South Africa, Sweden, United States, Uzbekistan
May 25th, 2024	Russia
May 30th, 2024	Australia, Hungary
May 31st, 2024	Poland
June 1st, 2024	People's Republic of China
July 17th, 2024	Belgium
July 31st, 2024	France

Soundtrack

Main article: The Garfield Movie (soundtrack)

The soundtrack is composed by John Debney.

Video game

A video game adaptation of The Garfield Movie was announced on December 21, 2023. It is being funded by Stars-Hana.

Trivia

• This is the first Garfield animated project since 2007's Garfield Gets Real where Garfield and Jon are not voiced by Frank Welker and Wally Wingert, respectively.
• This is the first movie released after the sale of Davis' Paws Incorporated to Viacom (now Paramount Global) in 2019.
  • Sony Pictures Entertainment received the film rights to the film in 2016, resulting in Sony Pictures distributing the film.
• This is the first Garfield movie to not be produced or distributed by 20th Century Studios (formerly known as 20th Century Fox).
• This is the sixth Garfield movie and the third to be in theaters.
  • This is the first theatrical Garfield movie since Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties in 2006.
• This is the fourth fully animated Garfield movie, and the first to be in theaters.
• Nermal has a non-speaking cameo at the end of the film.
• This film is dedicated to Randy Fullmer; Dindal's producer, a businessman and executive for The Walt Disney Company who died on July 10, 2023.
• This is the first time Odie is voiced by someone other than Gregg Berger in an animated Garfield production.
• As of September 21 2024 The Garfield movie can now be watched on Netflix.

Cultural references

• As kitten Garfield moves across the street, a shop, "Lorenzo's Music Store", is visible in the background, a nod to Lorenzo Music, the voice actor for Garfield between 1982 and 2001.
• The plot of the film is similar to that of the Mission Impossible films in which the main characters pull off seemingly impossible heists to help their loved ones.
  • Otto plays a similar role to Luther Stickell as both of them help plot the heist with the main characters (Garfield and Ethan Hunt) and have special communication devices. Coincidently both characters are played by Ving Rhames.
  • The Mission Impossible theme song also plays during Otto's planning montage.
  • Garfield mentions that he does all his stunts with Tom Cruise.
• "Catflix" is a parody of the streaming service, Netflix.
• Garfield and Vic are seen ordering items online from Olive Garden and Walmart.
• Garfield references the show, Shark Tank after being amazed at Otto's acorn earpiece.

Goofs

TBA

External links

• Official website
• "We want to hear from you" marketing site with info about submitting cat and dog videos to be included in the marketing campaign
• Link to the marketing site provided by the QR code in the official trailer (Using this link may help with showing the marketing campaign is successful)
• Casting Call section on the official website for submitting videos
• The Garfield Movie at Facebook
• The Garfield Movie at Instagram
• The Garfield Movie at TikTok
• The Garfield Movie at X (formerly Twitter)