Chris Pratt has signed on to voice the title character in a new animated Garfield film from Alcon Entertainment, Alcon co-founders and co-CEOs Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson announced today.

Mark Dindal (Chicken Little, Emperor’s New Groove) is directing the film, based on the iconic comic strip of the same name, from a script by David Reynolds (Finding Nemo). Sony Pictures will distribute it globally in all major territories apart from China.

Garfield follows a cynical and lazy orange cat of the same name and his interactions with his owner, Jon Arbuckle, along with his fellow pet, Odie. The comic strip from cartoonist Jim Davis debuted in June of 1978 and appeared early on in 41 newspapers, though it would ultimately feature in 2,580 newspapers and journals, with an estimated readership of 260 million. To this day, it remains the most widely syndicated comic strip in the world.

The Garfield comic strip has previously been adapted for a number of films—most notably, 20th Century Fox’s 2004 title Garfield: The Movie and its 2006 sequel Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, both of which had Bill Murray voicing the title character.

Alcon acquired feature rights to Garfield from Davis. DNEG Animation will animate and produce the film, with DNEG CEO Namit Malhotra and President Tom Jacomb producing alongside Alcon principals Kosove and Johnson, John Cohen and Steven P. Wegner. Davis is exec producing with Bridget McMeel of Amuse and Craig Sost.

Pratt most recently starred in Amazon sci-fi blockbuster The Tomorrow War and had a lead voice role in Disney/Pixar’s Onward. He will next appear in Universal Pictures’ Jurassic World: Dominion and The Terminal List from MRC and Amazon Studios.

Pratt is repped by UTA, Rise Management, and Sloane, Offer, Weber and Dern. Reynolds is repped by Gersh.

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.

Directed by:
Mark Dindal

Screenplay by: Paul A. Kaplan & Mark Torgove and David Reynolds

Based on the Garfield® characters created by: Jim Davis

Producers:
John Cohen
Broderick Johnson
Andrew A. Kosove
Steven P. Wegner
Craig Sost
Namit Malhotra
Crosby Clyse

Executive Producers:
Jim Davis
Bridget McMeel
David Reynolds
Scott Parish
Carl Rogers
Simon Hedges
Chris Pflug
Louis Koo
Steve Sarowitz
Justin Baldwin
Peter Luo

Cast:
Chris Pratt
Samuel L. Jackson
Hannah Waddingham
Ving Rhames
Nicholas Hoult
Cecily Strong
Harvey Guillén
Brett Goldstein
Bowen Yang