Some executive in Hollywood is either the smartest person alive or deserves a punch in the face (or both) because this is a thing that is happening. An internet meme is now becoming a movie because Hollywood is hellbent on telling audiences what they really think of their intelligence.
Grumpy Cat aka That Feline Who Has Funny Captions In Those Emails You’re Aunt Keeps Sending You is now going to be the lead character in a movie. Let’s clarify that: a family movie. According to Broken Road producer Todd Garner, who apparently just discovered the internet, this is more than just meme, because it keeps getting better (#facepalm). “This started off as a picture of a cat, but rare is an image that evokes that much comedy,” he 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.”
It seems the world is big enough for two cranky cat franchises (don’t forget about “Garfield“) and everyone involved is hoping the massive social media appeal and inbox popularity will translate into a successful flick. Of course, the point everyone involved seems to be missing is that memes by their very nature are short-lived phenomenons that get burned out/played out eventually (see Hitler Reacts To….) And yes, that even applies to things that won the 2013 Webby Award For Best Meme. The winner in 2012? Nyan Cat. Bet you didn’t even remember that one.
No word yet on which poor sap is going to have to write this thing, but we predict this will be an Internet Awesome as “Snakes On A Plane” until it actually came out, and everyone was bored of it by then. It’s a good thing Hollywood learns from past errors. Selina Meyer from “Veep” knows exactly how we feel….
