I’m a cat person, so yeah, when I found out about Grumpy Cat doing a press day at SXSW the day before films began, I wormed my way into that shit. No shame*. She was there to promote a Friskys web series on which she was making a cameo, which you can see here if you’re a fan.
I also managed to have a brief interview with Grumpy Cat’s caretakers, Tabatha and Bryan Bundesen. They were both extremely friendly people clearly still overwhelmed by the phenomenon they’d stumbled into. During that interview I asked if they’d yet been approached for a film or TV show, and at the time they’d said not yet.
Renn: So I fully expect sometime in the next year for Grumpy Cat to show up next to Vince Vaughn in some comedy or something- have you guys got any kind of offer like that you? Movies or TV?”
Bryan: No nothing for TV. Actually there was an interesting email that came in today, but not for TV. No offers of that yet- we’re hoping she ends up in a cartoon or something. We’d love to see an animated grumpy cat.”
Renn: I guarantee you there are a dozen scripts in front of executives that mention Grumpy Cat or include a cameo…
Well, it wasn’t a big leap or anything, but I called it!
Fuck You
Broken Road films has optioned the likeness of Grumpy Cat through her managers in order to package a Garfield-style film, which will most certainly sell at some studio or another. As Deadline elaborates, there are hard numbers suggesting that Grumpy Cat is a sustainable online brand, rather than a throwaway meme.
The official Facebook has over 930,000 likes, and has a weekly reach well over 2 million. The official YouTube Channel has over 120,000 subscribers and over 20 million views.
It’s not like the internet’s love for cats has diminished since it started. So yep, in a few years a CGI animated film of some sort will hit the big screen. Clearly this is Jennifer Lawrence’s gig to turn down, and she probably should, lest the internet fucking explode with the news. I’d have suggested Ian McShane or Jeremy Irons, but Tardar Sauce is a girl after all. Amy Poehler could also pull of a good Grumpy Cat voice or human to play against her. I’ve given this enough thought at this point**.
Sorry I didn’t bring as much dismissive snark to this story as I imagine 98% of the other movie bloggers will, but you gotta zig when others zag sometimes.
*Do you have any idea how much a panty-dropper a photo with Grumpy Cat is?
**Okay one more: please NOT Aubrey Plaza as the voice.