It looks like Grumpy Cat and her owners have another reason to smile. Or frown, as the case may be.
It was recently announced that the most popular cat on the Internet now has a movie deal, as TIME magazine reported.
Grumpy Cat’s reps, Ben Lashes and Al Hassas, made a deal with Broken Road Productions, the company that has previously produced “Jack and Jill,” “Zookeeper,” and “Paul Blart Mall Cop.”
Lashes is a self proclaimed “meme manager” who also represents the meme ‘Keyboard Cat.’
The film has been described as “a ‘Garfield’-like feature film,” in which Grumpy Cat will have a speaking role.
“This started off as a picture of a cat, but rare is an image that evokes that much comedy,” Todd Garner, one of the producers of the Grumpy Cat film, told Deadline. “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.”
Grumpy Cat, whose real name is Tarder Sauce, sports her permanent frown due to a form of feline dwarfism.
Bryan Bundesen’s sister Tabatha owns Tarder Sauce, however, he is the one responsible for Grumpy Cat’s viral fame after posting a photo to Reddit in September 2012. Since then, Grumpy Cat has inspired many memes, and her YouTube channel has over 120,000 subscribers. Bryan manages all of Grumpy Cat’s social media, including a Facebook and Twitter account, from his home in Ohio with help from Tabatha, who regularly sends him new photos.
Grumpy Cat has appeared on national television, including the Today show, Good Morning America, CBS Evening News, Anderson Cooper Live, VH1 Morning Buzz and The Soup.
Grumpy Cat’s awards are numerous. She was voted Meme of the Year at the 2013 Webby Awards, named the most influential cat of 2012 by MSNBC, a Meme of 2012 by Mashable, “Queen of Social Media” at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, and has even had a TIME magazine photo shoot.
The Bundesens decline to say exactly how much money they’ve earned off of their cat’s fame, although Bryan said it’s in the mid-five figures.
