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Grumpy Cat meme spawns film
'Jack & Jill' producer is behind the idea based on a picture which has spread across the web.
At least 'Pirates of the Caribbean' had a theme park ride to base itself on...
News has now emerged that the first film based on an internet meme is to go into production.
'Grumpy Cat' is to be made into a film by the producer behind films like 'Zookeeper' and the much-derided Adam Sandler movie 'Jack and Jill'.
Producer Todd Garner reckons there's enough material behind the picture of the notoriously miserable feline to base a family comedy on.
[DreamWorks signs up Trolls for film and TV]
“This started off as a picture of a cat, but rare is an image that evokes that much comedy,” he said.
“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.”
The picture of the cat, a snowshoe breed called Tardar Sauce from Morristown, Arizona, owned by Tabitha Bundesen, emerged on Reddit last year and memes based on its glum countenance quickly spread across the web (see below for some of our favourites).
Tard – for short – has become something of a national celebrity in the US, and now also has a manager, Ben Lashes, who will be working with Garner and his Broken Road company on the film.
The cat will speak in the movie, which is thought to be in the 'Garfield' mould.
The producers could do worse than hire Tommy Lee Jones for the film, who unwittingly became a variant of the 'Grumpy Cat' meme after scowling his way through the Golden Globes. See the resemblance?
Of course, it's not the first time that an image has spawned a motion picture.
Famously, Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer came up with the idea for 'Top Gun' after seeing a picture of a fighter plane and its pilot in a glossy magazine.
