Amin Abbas
DUBAI: Sony Pictures’ ‘The Garfield Movie,’ the latest animated adventure comedy film based on the comic strip Garfield created by Jim Davis, premiered in Dubai on Saturday at City Centre Mirdif’s Vox Cinemas.
The movie premiere was organized by Vox Cinemas, Empire Entertainment, Sony Pictures, Purina Arabia, The Pet Shop, and other partners.
Originally published locally as Jon in 1976, then in nationwide syndication in 1978 as Garfield, the story chronicles the lives of Garfield the cat, his human owner Jon Arbuckle, and Odie the dog. As of 2013, it was syndicated in roughly 2,580 newspapers and journals and held the Guinness World Record for being the world’s most widely syndicated comic strip.
Families and their kids were excited to see the beloved orange cat on the big screen. In the film, Garfield is reunited with his long-lost father, a street cat named Vic, who is forced into joining him on a high-stakes adventure.
In May 2016, seven years after 20th Century Fox’s license with Paws, Inc. expired, it was announced that Alcon Entertainment would develop a new CG animated Garfield film, with John Cohen and Steven P. Wegner producing, from a script by Mark Torgove and Paul A. Kaplan.Mark Dindal was announced as director in November 2018, with pre-production beginning the following month.
The movie will be showcased in cinemas across the Middle East starting May 23.