Post date: May 31, 2013 11:7:1 PM
Household pet turned internet sensation Grumpy Cat releases a new book and is set to star in a new movie.
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MAY 31, 2013) (REUTERS) - Grumpy Cat, who won fame on the Internet for her permanent scowl, will be getting Hollywood treatment in an upcoming film, will hit book shelves with a new book and even satisfy stomachs.
At an appearance in New York on Friday (May 31) at the BookExpo America the cat's 'uncle' Bryan Bundesen, the brother of the cat's owner, Tabatha Bundesen, said the family is still getting use to all the attention."She's taken us to lots of new places. We've been to SXSW," an entertainment festival in Texas.
"I think this is our third trip to New York. We're excited. No, I can't wrap my head around it. There is something new it seems every week. And it's very exciting," he told Reuters.
Grumpy Cat, whose real name is Tarder Sauce, went viral last year after Bryan posted a photo of the cat on the user-submitted social news site Reddit during a visit with his sister in Arizona.
Shortly after uploading the photo fans turned the once household pet into a household name.
"Once I went back home it just continued to grow. Like I said, with the movie deal, the book deal. We actually have Grumpy Cat beverages coming out too," Bryan explained who said they will be releasing bottled ice coffee drinks and other favors soon.
The film will be produced by Broken Road Productions, which has been behind such films as the Kevin James' 2009 comedy "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," and Adam Sandler's 2011 comedy "Jack and Jill."
Photos of Grumpy Cat, whose scowl Bundesen said was caused by feline dwarfism, gained a following with ironic user-generated captions known as memes, like "I had fun once ... it was awful" and "Of all the nine lives I've lived ... this is the worst."
Publishers at Chronicle books seized the opportunity to make the feline even more popular.
"Everybody, every time somebody at work shared a Grumpy Cat email everybody laughed. It was one of those, you know, contagious things. You're like, 'I know this is perfect for my friend who is having a bad day.' So, it's a perfect book. And Grumpy Cat was only a one liner, it was just the meme over and over again. And so we got to dig in and really feel out the personality of Grumpy Cat and make it into activities for more grumpiness," Sarah Malarkey, executive editorial director for Chronicle books said.
Fans lined up a hour in advance to ensure their meeting with the four legged star, something that still shocks Bryan: "The line is insane. I can't believe the turn out. There are people lined up around the building basically to see Grumpy Cat."
For Laura Ellison, Grumpy was the biggest star at the expo.
"It's a cat and that's all. I'm a cat lover and out of all the celebrities here today this is the one I chose to invest my time in waiting for," said Ellison.
"Grumpy Cat just makes you so much happy. See there is so much happiness in all of her grumpiness. So that's why, I just want to see Grumpy Cat in person," addedCybil Solyn who was first in line.
As for what's next for Grumpy the family is unsure, but they hope to keep her popularity purring.
"We try to do stuff that is cool, that people like. That's our thing, keep it cool, keep it real and just do stuff that people are going to like. We don't want to over expose it, but everybody loves her so much it's hard not to let it grow some," said Bryan.
Grumpy Cat will join the ranks of Hollywood's other four-legged furry A-listers such as Uggie the dog from Oscar-winning film "The Artist" and Buddy the basketball-playing Golden Retriever from 1997's "Air Bud.