‘Heathcliff’ to Get the Feature Film Treatment

I remember from my childhood thinking Heathcliff was like the el-cheapo model of Garfield, kind of like Go-Bots were to Transformers.  Of course, if you want to get technical, Heathcliff has been around longer than Garfield, but there just always seemed to be a level of talent in the work coming from Jim Davis that you just couldn’t find in that of George Gately.

I also remember ‘Heathcliff: The Movie’ from ’86 that was basically three episodes of the carton strewn together.  There’s a reason that thing falls into IMDB’s Bottom 100 once in awhile.  Well, aparently, Heathcliff is coming to the big screan once again.  Magic Lantern Entertainment and Fitzroy Media, the latter of which holds the rights to the comic strip, are coming together to bring a ‘Heathcliff’ film to theaters.

The two companies plan to bring Heathcliff into the 21st century with both a straight-to-DVD cartoon and a live action feature film to be released in theaters.

“He’s not your typical cuddly kitty cat. He’s a really cynical, wisecracking character who has a contemporary perspective we could do a lot with,” said Magic Lantern spokesman Jeff Segal.

The first bit of ‘Heathcliff’ releasings will be an animated special to be released on DVD sometime in 2011.  The two companies plan on expanding that into a live action feature film shortely after.

Source: Variety