EXCLUSIVE: More depressing news for humans who can’t get a Hollywood movie made. Grumpy Cat, the cranky-faced kitty voted Meme of the Year at the 2013 Webby Awards, has a shot at getting her famous sourpuss on the big screen. Broken Road’s Todd Garner and Sean Robins, and Grumpy Cat’s reps (manager Ben Lashes and rep Al Hassas) have teamed up to produce and assemble a package for a Garfield-like feature film with the famous frowning feline at the center. Here, Grumpy Cat (real name Tardar Sauce) will be given the power of speech. How much movie potential can a Grumpy Cat have? Well, she has been scratching at the door of fame in a big way. Among the indicators: Grumpy Cat was named the most influential cat of 2012 by MSNBC, a most important Meme of 2012 by Mashable, and has appeared on such TV shows including Today, Good Morning America, CBS Evening News, Anderson Cooper Live, VH1 Morning Buzz and The Soup. In March, Grumpy Cat was deemed the star of South by Southwest-i by news outlets. The appearances drew lines of thousands of people that spanned for blocks. Grumpy Cat received more social mentions in four days than anyone else at SXSWi.The cat’s official Facebook has more than 930,000 likes and a weekly reach well over 2 million. The official YouTube Channel has over 120,000 subscribers and over 20 million views. Grumpy Cat stars in a collection of webisodes in partnership with Friskies and the Will Kitty Play With It series. Grumpy Cat merchandise sells at Walmart, Hot Topic, Thinkgeek and many other retail stores. Licenses include Chronicle Books, Gund, Ripple Junction, Buckle Down, T Line, ATNY, Ultra Pro, 99 Cent Brains and more.
If you need more convincing: the catalyst for the movie action is Garner, who optioned the story and life rights of a bunch of adult men who hold a cross-country game of tag. That project is now a priority at New Line, with Mark Steilen writing and Will Ferrell and Jack Black coming attached to play two of the main characters. Garner believes this crotchety critter will be catnip for the family-film crowd.
“This started off as a picture of a cat, but rare is an image that evokes that much comedy,” Garner said. “You read all of the memes and the comments, and one is funnier than the next. We think we can build a big family comedy around this character.”
I have seen the end. Just now. A deadline.com headline.
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Todd Garner is making the world such a better place! That’s a producer to aspire to!
Agree! Todd is smart and still a good guy!
Grumpy Cat is one of the funniest memes ever. A film based on Grumpy Cat in which the little guy talks robs the meme of it’s humor. But good on everyone involved in this little guy’s “career”, as getting rich off your cat without exploiting it in any psychologically damaging way is awesomely bonkers.
“Little Guy” is a girl kitty
Dumbest idea ever
Welcome to Hollywood! Smart people doing dumb movies! Absolutely no vision or ambition to bridge the gap and bring together popularity and quality.
Very well said and spot on!
What do you mean, “smart people?”
This is as dumb as making shows off twitter or tumblr accounts. Between this, and TWC remaking Intouchables, I would say the idiocracy of this industry is at an all-time low.
Typical insider BS. I suppose the only valid movie ideas come from people sitting in offices on studio lots? 10 years ago, and wrongly, this site and any other blog would never have been called journalism, for risk of offending “real” journalists. Now that sounds insane. So now you keep the exclusionist dream alive by saying no movie ideas from the internet? So, comic books okay, but Buzzfeed not okay? You can be creative in any medium.
Well said- you can be creative, in any medium. I think this is refreshing, and for once we see what creativity from one person simply starting with an idea, and leaving the rest up to us. We obviously love the cat, and I look forward to seeing what they do with this movie.
You have no fore sight at all. Grumpy Cat is going to be huge. Kids will eat it up. Can you say series on Nickelodeon? I can. But I guess with nothing to bitch about people like you would have nothing to write about.
It worked with an alien named Alf! He thought of cats as a delicasy!!!
Why is it dumb? Do you consider any other family movie a waste of time, or is it just this one? If you’re not interested, don’t go to it, simple as that, but you don’t need to insult other people’s idea of a fun movie. It’s nice to see something that doesn’t involve wars and govt. conspiracies once in awhile, ya know.
I can see it now – “they buried this movie on the first weekend of JANUARY
Big surprise. Is Garner gonna do this before or after the Jack & Jill sequel?
My only complaint is they beat me to it.
Kill me.
Dont worry i will
Hey it’s better than Honey Boo Boo Child getting a movie deal—- WAY WAYYYYYY better! I shouldn’t have typed that out loud! you watch! HBBC WILL get a movie deal! UGH!!!!!!!
A Tail as Old as Rhyme — Dateline Hollywood: Grumpy Cat gets movie deal, o.d’s on catnip and anti-freeze and enters rehab…
Oh, Todd. Stop. Just stop. You’d be making a better contribution to the movie industry if you started making snuff films.
you gotta be kitten me
Nice pun, it should be made into a meme pic!
Man, when you are a manager who represents a cat and attach yourself to produce your cats movie…..how do you look yourself in the mirror?
“…..how do you look yourself in the mirror?”
not with a grumpy face but with dollar signs in your eyes :)
A film based on a fictional grumpy cat in which the little guy talks has been made. It was called “Garfield”
Garner is a true pioneer in making incredibly stupid movies and we should salute him for lowering the bar to this level. Well done Todd you have pointed the way for others to follow your trailblazing footsteps.
And this is what makes gazillions for NIKKE? And this Todd – take my boot out of my own ass? Of all important industry headlines, let alone a movie. Wow…I mean…fucking shit.
So I’m the only one that thinks this sounds delightful?
Yes, and you are either in the 3rd grade or of below average intelligence.
Or, maybe Cat Lover has a sense of humor and you don’t.
This movie will unquestionably be made for children and people of below average intelligence. Having a sense of humor and having some modicum of intelligence are not mutually exclusive concepts. Don’t try to hard to understand this, though; you may hurt yourself. Just watch the silly kitty and pay up. The rest of us will continue to die a little inside.
3 words: S**T MY DAD SAYS: THE TV SHOW.
How many words was that, again?
Tom Cats 2?
Be careful Todd.
You’ve got to be fucking kidding….
This is a terrible, terrible idea. As if the concept isn’t bad enough, by the time it comes out, it’ll be outdated, and people will be completely sick of it. The life of a meme isn’t that long before it gets boring and becomes a parody of itself.
You’re all just jealous I am a bankable movie commodity. Your own cats and dogs are average pets who don’t do anything worthy of a feature film. They don’t have followers online they don’t have any merchandise like I do. Make fun of me all you want I will laugh all the way to the cat bank. I have nine lives so I can do a lot of movies and when I die they can replace me with a cat who looks just like me that’s what they did with Lassie there were many Lassies over many years. ;)
Upvote for karma.
Those “Will Kitty Play With It?” webisodes with Grumpy Cat are a riot. You can find them on YouTube. They should do more stuff like that, and build up toward a Grumpy Cat movie.
Well—— DUUUHHH!!! Can U NOT READ???? Thet ARE making a movie about GRUMPY!!!!! Have U NOT been paying attention???? READ, man READ!!!!
I intend on going to see the movie as soon as it comes out!!! I am a CATLOVER @ heart, so YEAH, HELL YEAH!!!! I’m gona go see the movie & I’ll bet its gonna be a cute FAMILY ORIENTED movie too!!!
I just wonder tho: WHY did they name GRUMPY CAT TARDAR SAUCE? Perhaps, maybe because she likes it???? Hmmmm. Strange cat!!! They should have just left her name: GRUMPYCAT, instead od TARDAR SAUCE!!!
I’m pretty sure her name was Tardar Sauce before she was famous, and then it was changed to Grumpy Cat because she looks grumpy.
I have friends that are huge Grumpy Cat fans. I hadn’t even become familiar with Grumpy Cat until recently through them. I don’t care if you think this sounds stupid, but it absolutely sounds like a fairly successful movie. I never even thought they might make a movie of it, but it’s not a bad idea at all. I don’t know if it will be any good, but I think it would be a hit.
Remember these words in two years when Grumpy Cat attends her court hearing in a Darryl Hannah “Splash” wig.
I am a huge Grumpy Cat fan and thihs is the best news ever. I hope they can do Tardar Sauce justice!