In what might be a strange attempt to take advantage of the Internet’s fascination with cats, VIVA Pictures has announced the acquisition for all U.S. rights to Top Cat: The Movie, based on the popular 1960s prime time cartoon character of the same name. Top Cat: The Movie features the voices of Jason Harris (Ice Age: Continental Drift), Chris Edgerly (Happy Feet), and Bill Lobley (Ice Age: Continental Drift). The company is planning a theatrical roll-out this summer followed by VOD, home entertainment and digital offerings.
“We are honored to be a part of this piece of cartoon history,” commented Victor Elizalde, president of VIVA Pictures. “I have extremely fond memories of watching with my brothers the original television show, ‘Top Cat’ and am looking forward to sharing the big screen version with a new generation of U.S. audiences.”
Top Cat: The Movie welcomes the return of the characters from the original Hanna-Barbera cartoon. Top Cat, along with his gang of city-slickin’ fast-talking friends and their alley shenanigans — Benny the Ball, Fancy Fancy, Choo Choo, Spook and Brains — have to face a new sheriff. Police Chief Strickland has the latest technology and plans to keep peace with it — his robot police force. He and his robots are raining on the alley cats’ parade and as a result, the gang is forced to ban together to make sure Strickland doesn’t cash in on one of their nine lives. Can the gang scratch their way back to freedom against the new robotic police force?
For those of you who have not yet reached retirement age, “Top Cat” was a Hanna-Barbera prime time animated television series that aired on ABC in the early 1960s. Sponsored by brands Kellogg’s and Bristol-Myers, the network aired 30 episodes about the gang of Manhattan alley cats led by Top Cat, aka T.C. It was known to be a parody of the popular “The Phil Silvers Show.” Many of the Hanna-Barbera stable of characters made appearances on the television version of “Top Cat.” The adventures of Top Cat were also memorialized in comic books until the early 1970s. Additionally, a hardcover children’s book was created as were several musical CDs with jazzy arrangements of the Top Cat theme song.
Top Cat is a 2D and 3D Ánima Estudios production, directed by Alberto Mar and produced by Fernando de Fuentes S. and José C. García de Letona. The film, whose Spanish title is “Don Gato y su Pandilla”, was released in Mexico as well as many other countries and has gone on to become one of the most successful Mexican produced films ever.
