Chris Pratt to voice Garfield in new animated film

Hollywood star Chris Pratt is all set to voice the insanely popular comic strip feline Garfield in a new animated movie.

As per Variety, the still-untitled project will be written by David Reynolds and directed by Mark Dindal.

Though plot details haven't been confirmed yet, the movie draws inspiration from the long-running comic strip created by cartoonist Jim Davis. The exploits of the cynical and lazy orange cat Garfield, his owner Jim Arbuckle and fellow pet Odie have appeared in more than 2,580 newspapers and journals since the comic strip first debuted in June 1978. Garfield currently holds the record for being the most widely syndicated comic strip in the world.

Alcon Entertainment is producing the movie, with Sony Pictures on board to release Garfield's latest adventure in theatres globally (excluding China).

Alcon acquired the rights from Davis, who will also serve as an executive producer with Bridget McMeel from Amuse and Craig Sost. John Cohen and Steven P. Wegner will produce along with Alcon principals Kosove and Johnson. Along with Alcon Entertainment, DNEG Animation will animate and produce the film. DNEG CEO Namit Malhotra and DNEG president Tom Jacomb will serve as producers.

The upcoming film is not Garfield's first bout with Hollywood. Bill Murray voiced the eponymous cat in 2004's 'Garfield: The Movie' and its 2006 sequel 'Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties'. Those movies, from 20th Century Fox, were commercially successful despite receiving terrible reviews.

Garfield has also been the subject of several direct-to-video films, including 'Garfield Gets Real', 'Garfield's Fun Fest' and 'Garfield's Pet Force'.

Pratt is no stranger to voice work, having recently led Disney and Pixar's animated adventure 'Onward' and the Warner Bros. toy-based 'Lego Movie' franchise.

He also recently bagged Universal's new 'Super Mario Bros.' adaptation, in which he will voice Mario. In the film, Pratt will be joined by a star-studded voice cast that features Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser and Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong.

Pratt was last seen in Amazon's sci-fi epic 'The Tomorrow War' and will appear next in 'Jurassic World: Dominion'.