Internet Meme Grumpy Cat Lands Movie Deal
She’s the hottest thing on the Internet right now; she even has an award to prove it. So what’s a girl left to do after having her fan club, her own face plastered online and on mugs, t-shirts, murals, and billboards? Why, have her own movie, of course! Grumpy Cat, the grouchy-faced feline whose memes have ruled online for many months now, is now going to be a movie star.
Real name Tardar Sauce, Grumpy has just scored a movie deal, whether she likes it or not. Her reps, manager Ben Lashes and rep Al Hassas, have inked a deal to produce a film with Todd Garner and Sean Robins of Broken Road Productions, according to Deadline.
It will be a “Garfield”-like feature film, which will see the famous feline talk.
“This started off as a picture of a cat, but rare is an image that evokes that much comedy,” Garner was quoted by Deadline as saying. “You read all of the memes and the comments, and one is funnier than the next.
“We think we can build a big family comedy around this character.”
This will be the first time an Internet meme has been given its own feature film so it remains unseen if the permanently scowling kitty will be as popular on the big screen as she is on the Internet.
Grumpy, born on April 4 last year, is no stranger to being in front of the camera, though. Since she was made into an online meme in September, she has appeared on national TV programmes, including “Anderson Live,” “Today,” and “Good Morning America.”
She also had a photo shoot session with Time magazine, and was “interviewed” by Forbes earlier this year.
She has scored an endorsement deal with cat food manufacturer Friskies, which arranged for her to star in game show webisodes on YouTube titled “Will Kitty Play With It?”
She has also thousands of fans who receive daily emails from her official Web site, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook page.
On top of that, she has just won the Meme of the Year at the 2013 Webby Awards last week.
And yet, Grumpy Cat remains unimpressed.
Grumpy Cat announced as the 2013 Meme of the Year at the Webby Awards: