April 15, 2008

GARFIELD CELEBRATES HIS 30th BIRTHDAY YEAR WITH A NEW MOVIE, TV SHOW, PROMOTIONS, AND PRODUCTS

( Muncie, IN) — On June 19, 1978, GARFIELD appeared on the comics pages for the first time, kicking off a career that would go on to involve licensing, TV, books, video games, movies, and more. After 30 years in the spotlight, Garfield is an international star with agents in every major business center in the world, and a licensing and creative company fully devoted to the care and feeding of the famous feline.

This year, in addition to Garfield’s normal birthday celebration which will include a cake the size of Rhode Island, Garfield is celebrating with a brand-new direct-to-DVD feature: Garfield’s Fun Fest (coming August 12, 2008). In this whimsical and fast-paced CGI adventure, Garfield learns the importance of being himself; just relaxing and letting the funny flow. (Fox Home Entertainment.)

Garfield is also preparing for the debut of 26 all-new TV episodes by French producer Dargaud Marina. “The Garfield Show” offers a fresh and funny look at Garfield’s day-to-day life, blending the modern look of CGI animation and the familiar humor of Garfield, Odie, and Jon Arbuckle. The show will air on France 3 and is available for worldwide distribution beginning early 2009.

Garfield has his share of promoting to do this year, as well. Kentucky Fried Chicken, Nathan’s Famous Hotdogs, Kellogg’s (Asia), and Wendy’s International are all on board to help kids celebrate the fat cat’s big year with special kids’ meal promotions and premiums.

New products for 2008 were introduced at MAGIC and TOY FAIR. At Magic, Garfield was represented by Mighty Fine, FREEZE, MJC SF LLC, Changes, and Jibbitz. Mighty Fine will introduce a new line of knit tops, T-shirts and fleece tops for Men, Women, Juniors, Tweens and Kids/Youth, uniting the fat cat with various National Basketball Association (NBA) teams.

At Toy Fair, Destination Software Inc. (DSI) introduced Garfield Gets Real , an upcoming video game of the action genre for the Wii and the Nintendo DS video game consoles based on the direct to DVD CGI movie Garfield Gets Real.

Other new products for 2008 include a bevy of new books including compilation book #45,  Garfield Large and In Charge (1/29/08); Classic series #16, Garfield Rounds Out (6/24/08); Classic series #17,  Garfield Chews the Fat (8/26/08); Compilation book #46, Garfield Spills the Beans (9/30/08); and a very special 30th-anniversary book, 30 Years of Laughs & Lasagna (10/28/08) (All by Ballantine Books.)

And…as if the furry phenom didn’t have enough on his plate, Garfield will stay extremely active in offering up new wireless activities and animations, and his website presence grows with the ever-expanding entertainment site, www.garfield.com. and his newest venture aimed at promoting literacy and learning at www.professorgarfield.org, a free website benefitting students, teachers, and parents.