Sony Pictures has delayed the release of its upcoming Garfield movie starring Chris Pratt.
As reported by Variety, Sony will shift the release of Garfield from its original release date of Feb. 16, 2024, which is now the new release date for Madame Web, to Memorial Day weekend on May 24, 2024.
Sony's new release date for Garfield comes after news that the film would release in February 2024. Along with Garfield, Sony also shifted the release dates for two films in its Spider-Man Universe, including Kraven the Hunter and Madame Web. Originally scheduled to release in theaters on Jan. 13, 2023, Kraven the Hunter has been pushed to Madame Web's original release date of Oct. 6, 2023. Madame Web, subsequently, has been delayed until Feb. 16, 2024. A reason for these delays was not provided.
Written by David Reynolds and directed by Mark Dindal, the upcoming animated Garfield film was originally announced in 2016. Pratt's casting in the lead role as the eponymous orange feline was announced in 2021, which received widespread criticism from fans on social media. Pratt will also voice the titular Mario in Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment's Super Mario Bros. movie, a decision that similarly received much backlash from fans since it was announced, particularly because the Guardians of the Galaxy star is not Italian.
Garfield, an ongoing comic strip created by Jim Davis in 1978, inspired several adaptations in television and film, including animated shows like Garfield and Friends, which ran from 1988 to 1994, and The Garfield Show, which ran on Nickelodeon between 2009 and 2016. The most recent adaptations, however, are Sony's upcoming animated film as well as an animated Garfield series currently in development at Nickelodeon which was announced in 2019.
It was announced in May that Samuel L. Jackson had joined the cast of the animated film as Vic, Garfield's father, a new character created for the film. At the time of writing, Pratt and Jackson are the only known cast members for the film, though other fan-favorite characters like Garfield's canine friend Odie and their owner Jon Arbuckle are expected to appear in the film as well.
Aside from his roles as Mario and Garfield, Pratt reprised his Marvel Cinematic Universe role as Peter Quill/Star-Lord in 2022's Thor: Love and Thunder. He will appear as the character again in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which premieres May 5, 2023. Garfield is scheduled to hit theaters on May 24, 2024.
Source: Variety