Grumpy Cat gets a movie deal.
America’s favorite sourpuss feline, Grumpy Cat, has reportedly landed a movie deal.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the winner of the Meme of the Year at the 2013 Webby Awards is getting her own film, and that it will feature Grump Cat.
Grumpy Cat became popular last year when an image of the scowling cat went viral, which in turn was used to create thousands of Internet memes that feature her picture with disdainful phrases such as “Your face is breathing in my air–stop it” and “What a beautiful day–let’s go back inside now.” Grumpy Cat, whose real name is Tarder Sauce, is owned by Arizona resident Tabatha Bundesen. Her brother snapped a photo of the scowling cat and uploaded it to Reddit, where it took off and went viral.
Within Grumpy Cat gaining popularity, her owner secured her a talent agent, who has been working tirelessly on the Grumpy Cat branding. In addition to the movie deal, Grumpy Cat has a book, “Grumpy Cat: A Grumpy Book: Disgruntled Tips and Activities Designed to Put a Frown on Your Face,” which will be released at a publishing contention this week. A deal has also been brokered with Grenade Beverage, LLC to distribute coffee with the cat’s image. In addition, there are clothing items such as t-shirts and belt buckles with Grumpy Cat’s face on them for sale at Spencer’s. Grumpy Cat has even been featured on “Good Morning America” and “Anderson Live,” which proves that people can become obsessed with just about anything.
It’s hard to imagine that a household pet could turn into such a moneymaker, but so far the Bundesens have made at least six figures off her, which doesn’t even include possible proceeds from the movie. Broken Road Productions, the company responsible for “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” and “Jack and Jill,” is producing the movie. The producers plan to “produce and assemble a package for a Garfield-like feature film with the famous frowning feline at the center.”
While Grumpy Cat seems to have a personality more in line with the talking teddy bear Ted from the Seth MacFarlane movie, the film is so early in production that no information has been released on whether the film will be suitable for children or if it will have adult content. It also hasn’t been determined whether Grumpy Cat will actually star in the film, or if her likeness will be used in a CGI animation.
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