When The Garfield Movie arrives in theaters over Memorial Day weekend, the animated comedy should have all the ingredients to serve up a record-breaking box office performance for Jim Davis’ iconic lasagna-loving feline.
Featuring the voice talents of Chris Pratt, Samuel L. Jackson, and an ensemble including Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham and Brett Goldstein, the film sees Garfield embarking on a heist caper after reuniting with his long-lost outlaw father Vic (Jackson). With its multi-generational appeal and family-friendly concept, projections have The Garfield Movie earning a robust $35 million in its opening weekend alone.
If that estimate holds, the film would easily surpass the previous box office high for a theatrically released Garfield movie – the $208 million total haul for 2004’s Garfield: The Movie starring Bill Murray as the lasagna-craving cat. That live-action/animated hybrid was a surprise hit at the time despite scathing reviews.
Its 2006 sequel A Tail of Two Kitties came close with $143.3 million but still fell short of the original’s commercial benchmark. With Garfield’s subsequent films being relegated to home video releases or streaming, the iconic comic strip character has been absent from the big screen for nearly two decades.
But with Pratt’s star power from last year’s billion-dollar animated smash The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Sony Pictures Animation’s impressive track record, The Garfield Movie looks perfectly positioned to breathe new life into the long-dormant franchise.
After all, this is the same studio behind Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’s recent $690 million worldwide gross and the staggering $1.3 billion haul for The Super Mario Bros. Movie. While unlikely to reach those stratospheric levels, Garfield’s generation-spanning brand recognition and the inclusion of popular performers like Janelle James (Abbott Elementary) and SNL alumni Cecily Strong and Bowen Yang bode well for broad commercial appeal.
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Of course, the film will have to contend with some heavy-hitting competition over the Memorial Day frame in the form of the Charlize Theron-led Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. However, the vastly different target audiences for a post-apocalyptic thriller and an all-ages animated comedy about a Monday-phobic house cat should allow both films to peacefully coexist.
20 years after Bill Murray’s Garfield last graced multiplexes in a leading role, this new animated take gives the pop culture icon a prime opportunity to scratch out a new box office record. With its stacked voice ensemble and Sony’s proven pedigree in the animation realm, this movie looks primed to make fans say “I’m so hungry, I could eat a whole movie!”
