Owen Wilson To Voice Marmaduke In Movie

Comic Strip Great Dane Will Leap To Big Screen In 2010

Nov 6, 2009

A movie based on the comic strip Marmaduke is in development, with Owen Wilson signed on as the lead voice. Will the movie succeed?

Can a single-panel, arguably single-joke comic be adapted into an entire movie? That's the hope as the popular Great Dane is adapted for a feature film. Now been filmed, the movie will see Marmaduke's antics play out on the big screen, with Owen Wilson voicing the titular canine.

Owen Wilson was recently the star of Marley & Me, a live action family comedy that grossed over $242 million worldwide. On its Christmas Day alone, it grossed $14.75 million, setting the record for best Christmas box office take.

The movie will feature the Winslow family leaving their Kansas home, to head to Orange County, California. A hybrid of live action and computer animation, the film will see the eager and overbearing creature ends up starting a war between pedigree dogs and mutts.

This isn't the first time Marmaduke has taken to the screen, but his earlier role was on television. The 1980 animated series Heathcliff included a Marmaduke segment, during its relatively short run. Produced by Ruby-Spears (which became a sister company of Hanna-Barbera Productions the next year), the series featured Paul Winchell and Russi Taylor as voices.

First announced in March 2009, the film is due in theatres as of June 2010. Stay tuned for future developments.

We know father Phil will be played by Lee Pace (nominated for a Lead Actor in Comedy Series Emmy for Pushing Daisies) and daughter Barbie will be played by newcomer Caroline Sunshine. Mother Dottie seems to have been renamed Debbie—Judy Greer (Arrested Development, 27 Dresses) takes the role—while son Billy is now called Brian, who ironically only has Marley & Me to his credit. Mandy Haines and Milana Haines play Sarah Winslow, likely a new baby in the family.

Curious George's William H. Macy appears as live action character Don Twombly; his role in the film is unknown so far.

Steve Coogan (Octavius in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad), George Lopez (who played a dog in Beverly Hills Chihuahua), Stacey Ferguson (better known as Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas, who was the voice of Sally in Peanuts cartoons in the 1980s), Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia, Big Love), and Damon and Marlon Wayans.

Voices Ron Perlman and Jeremy Piven have worked together with another Great Dane. Both voiced characters in the 2005 DVD Scooby Doo in Where's My Mummy? Piven has also been a voice on Rugrats and Justice League, while Perlman's voice credits include Teen Titans, Tiny Toons, Tarzan II, Danny Phantom, and Halo 2 and 3.

The comic strip Marmaduke was created in 1954 by Brad Anderson, with help from Phil Leeming and Dorothy Leeming. Every Sunday, at least one panel is dedicated to “Dog Gone Funny”, which features anecdotes submitted by dog owners across North America.

Marmaduke won the National Cartoonist's Society's Reuben Award in 1978, and the George Arents Pioneer Medal for Syracuse University in 1999. Syndicated in hundreds of newspapers worldwide, attempts to cancel the panel have drawn protest, with the Chicago Sun-Times and Toronto Star backpeddling after backlash. The strip has been criticized for its repetativeness, and been the target of joke websites like "Joe Mathlete Explains Today's Marmaduke", "Marmaduke Can Vote", and "The Marmaduke Project".

Other Comic Strips At The Movies

The strip is syndicated by United Media Comics, whose titles include Dilbert, Get Fuzzy, Luann, and Tarzan. United Media's Over the Hedge comic was successfully adapted by DreamWorks Animation in 2006. Their most sucessful title by far is Peanuts, which made its creator, Charles Schulz, a multi-millionaire many times over. The acclaimed Peanuts specials won Emmy Awards, and are shown on holidays decades later.

Many of the earliest animated short films were based on comic strips, notably Mutt and Jeff and Popeye the Sailor Man. The Bill Murray-voiced Garfield film had enough success that it warranted direct-to-DVD sequels, and a new all-CGI television series. TV specials and series have been made from comics as varied as Animal Crackers, B.C., Blondie, Family Circus, and For Better or For Worse.

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