Garfield (2020 film)

Garfield is a 2020 American traditionally-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 the voices of Bill Murray 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, Alcon Entertainment and MRC, 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 its release schedule 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 Murray, 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.