Garfield (2020 film)

Garfield is a 2020 American animated adventure comedy film directed by Matthew O'Callaghan. Based on the comic strip of the same name by Jim Davis, it is produced by Andrew Kosove, Broderick Johnson and Jim Davis based on a screenplay by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger and written by Aibel, Berger, Davis and Jon Vitti.

The film stars Chris Pratt as the titular character, with Josh Gad, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Chris Rock, Audrey Wasilewski and Ving Rhames. The film follows Garfield, a lazy orange tabby cat who gets tied in a mysterious conspiracy in the cul de sac, which leads him on an adventure through the busy streets of Times Square in New York City. Murray is the only actor returning from the live-action films.

Development on a Garfield adaptation first occurred in 2009, after 20th Century Fox's deal with Paws, Inc. expired. Universal Pictures was interested in acquiring the license, though never came to fruition. Paramount Pictures parent company Viacom purchased the rights to the Garfield license in 2012 and announced that new Garfield movies would be coming out in the years to come. The film was produced by Paramount Animation, Nickelodeon Movies, Walden Media, Alcon Entertainment, MRC and Paws, Inc., with animation produced by Top Draw Animation.

Premiering in Los Angeles on January 15, 2020, Garfield was released in the United States on March 6, 2020 by Paramount Pictures. It was a box office success, grossing $284 million worldwide until it was pulled from theatres following the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the film industry. It received positive reviews, with praise for its screenplay, plot, voice cast (particularly Pratt, Rock and Wasilewski), animation, directorial by Matthew O'Callaghan, musical score by Christopher Lennertz and faithfulness to the source material, though criticized the runtime and pacing. A sequel, titled Garfield 2, is set for release on October 27, 2023.

Plot
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Voice cast

 * Chris Pratt as Garfield
 * Josh Gad as Jon Arbuckle
 * Jennifer Love Hewitt as Dr. Liz Wilson
 * Chris Rock as Nermal
 * Audrey Wasilewski as Arlene
 * Ving Rhames as TBD
 * Frank Welker as the voice of Odie
 * Candi Milo as Squeak
 * Maya Rudolph as Jon's mother
 * Carlos Alazraqui as Jon's father
 * Betty White as Grandma
 * Grey Griffin as Garfield's mother

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Development
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Writing
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Casting
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Animation
The animation was produced at Top Draw Animation in Manila, in the Philippines.

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Soundtrack
Garfield: Music From and Inspired by the Motion Picture is the licensed album for the film. It was released through Paramount Music on March 6, 2020. The score was composed by American composer Christopher Lennertz, who previously composed the music for Marmaduke, Cats & Dogs 2: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, Sausage Party, Smurfs: The Lost Village and UglyDolls.

Release
Garfield was originally scheduled for release in April 2019. However, due to time constraints, the release date was pushed back to March 2020. It premiered at the El Capitan Theatre on January 15, 2020 and was theatrically released on March 6, 2020 in the United States by Paramount Pictures. The film was rated PG by the Motion Picture Association for "mild language, peril and rude humor".

Home media
Garfield was released on Digital on July 19, 2020. It was then released on Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and DVD on July 24, 2020. The movie was made available on Paramount+ on March 4, 2021. The bonus features are as follows:


 * Animated blooper reel
 * A tutorial on how to draw Garfield by creator Jim Davis
 * An interview with director Matthew O'Callaghan and Garfield voice Chris Pratt

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Box office
Garfield opened alongside Pixar's Onward on March 6, 2020 and grossed $28.1 million in its opening weekend. It made $93 million in North America and $191 million internationally for a worldwide total of $284 million. After projections concluded early on March 25, 2020, Garfield was considered a box office failure in North America, with the COVID-19 pandemic contributing to it before it concluded. It never got an official release in China as the COVID-19 pandemic had began spreading further in the country.

Critical response
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 81% based on 201 critic reviews, with an average rating of 6.85/10. The site's consensus states: "Garfield 's funny wit and humor comes back to life in this animated adventure with Chris Pratt, with a great backup cast and a cleverly adapted plot that drags the all-loved lazy orange cat out of bed and out of the cul de sac." Metacritic -- which uses a weighted average -- assigns the film a score of 67 based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Trivia
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