Chris Pratt to play Garfield in new animated movie

Los Angeles: After bagging ”Super Mario Bros”, Hollywood star Chris Pratt is now set to voice the popular comic strip cat Garfield in a new animated feature.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson’s Alcon Entertainment is backing the new ”Garfield”.

Oscar nominee David Reynolds of ”Finding Nemo” fame has penned the film, which will be directed by Mark Dindle (”Chicken Little”).

Created by Jim Davis, Garfield first appeared in comics sections in 1978, with the lazy orange tabby cat often causing problems for Jon Arbuckle, his human owner, and the lovable household dog Odie. Garfield, which debuted in 41 newspapers, currently holds the record as the most widely syndicated comic strip in the world.

Alcon acquired the rights from Davis, who will serve as an executive producer on the film along with Bridget McMeel from Amuse and Craig Sost. John Cohen and Steven P Wegner produce alongside Kosove and Johnson.

DNEG Animation, whose recent credits include the animated feature ”Ron’s Gone Wrong”, will animate and produce the film. DNEG CEO Namit Malhotra and president Tom Jacomb will both serve as producers.

Sony Pictures has bought the rights to release the film worldwide, excluding China.

Garfield previously appeared on the big screen in live-action/animated hybrid ”Garfield” in 2004 and its sequel, 2006’s ”Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties”. In these movies, both produced by 20th Century Fox, Bill Murray voiced the titular cat.

Pratt’s voice work also includes the Lego Movie films and Pixar’s ”Onward”. The actor, who most recently starred in Amazon’s sci-fi feature ”The Tomorrow War”, will next be seen in ”Jurassic World: Dominion”.