The love-hate cat and mouse duo will join forces to do battle against Terrance, a hotel manager, determined to eliminate the pesky pests causing chaos in his life.
By Elia Esparza
Warner Bros has been busy turning Disney’s old animated classic, Tom and Jerry into a modern live-action hybrid animation movie. Michael Peña (The Mule, Ant-Man, The Martian) has been cast as the antagonist “Terrance,” a deputy general manager of the fancy Park Hotel. Chloe Grace Moretz (Let Me In), will portray Kayla, a new temporary hire, who once she starts to impress upper management, becomes an enemy of Terrance. Kayla, fearing she might lose her job, hires a broke alley cat named Tom, to help get rid of Jerry, a menacing mouse driving Terrance nuts. Ultimately, Kayla teams up with Tom and Jerry to fight the villainous general manager.
In development, Tom and Jerry (2021), an adaption of the classic Hanna-Barbera property, reveals how Tom and Jerry first meet and form their rivalry. Set to direct is Tim Story, writers are Eric Gravning, Michael H. Weber, and Scott Neustadter (screenplay), based on characters created by Joseph Barbera.
Traditionally, Tom and Jerry are each other’s greatest foe but they will put their differences aside to help Kayla protect her job and help them escape Terrance, who is determined to destroy them. As in every Tom & Jerry story told, the primary message is that through their teamwork, they both learn the ultimate value of family and friendship.
Tom & Jerry have been around since 1940, where they were introduced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Since then, many of the original Tom & Jerry series have yield dozens of shorts, TV franchises and won seven Oscars in the animated short category. There was a 1992 feature film, Tom & Jerry: The Movie, and now decades later, a long-awaited new live-action animation film that is sure to please audiences of all ages.
Stay tuned for who will be cast to voice Tom the cat, and Jerry the mouse.
Michael Peña is repped by CAA, Management 360, and Kovert Creative (Publicist),