WB's 'Tom And Jerry' Movie Lures Chloë Grace Moretz As Its Human Star

Ten years ago, we wrote about how Warner Bros. wanted to make a new Tom and Jerry movie about the animated cat and mouse characters who are always at odds with each other. The film has been stuck in development hell for close to a decade, but since WB wants to put a renewed focus on animation, a new version is officially in the works.

Now the upcoming live-action/animation hybrid has cast its human lead: Chloë Grace Moretz, star of recent arthouse efforts like Greta, Suspiria, and The Miseducation of Cameron Post. Learn about the film's plot below.

Collider reports that Moretz is in final negotiations to play the film's lead human in the film, which will be directed by Tim Story (Shaft, Ride Along, Think Like a Man). Ten years ago, the story was supposed to be an origin story that revealed how Tom and Jerry first met and formed their rivalry, including a plot thread where they got lost in Chicago and were forced to team up and find their way home. But it seems like that story has been completely trashed in the intervening years. Here's how Collider describes the plot of this version:

Moretz is poised to play Kayla, a new employee at a posh hotel where Jerry takes up residence, threatening to ruin a glamorous wedding. She hires a broke alley cat named Tom to come in and get rid of Jerry, which proves to be easier said than done. That may be for the best, as the duo will likely need each other to defeat Kayla's villainous boss, who isn't a big fan of either one.

If WB casts Dame Judi Dench as Kayla's boss, and I'll be there on opening day.

This will be Moretz's first starring role in a major studio film since her turn as a sorority girl in Neighbors 2, and her first major lead studio role since she starred in the Carrie remake back in 2013. She's spent the past several years working on lower-budgeted indies, but she'll dip into bigger budget family-friendly fare by lending her voice to the upcoming animated retelling of The Addams Family, where she'll voice Wednesday Addams.

Unlike the disastrous 1992 film Tom and Jerry: The Movie, this version won't have those animated characters speaking – they'll remain silent, as they did in the classic cartoon shorts. Still, if news of yet another live-action/animated hybrid seems depressing to you, take solace in the fact that it can't possibly be as bad as this bizarre direct-to-home-video film in which Tom and Jerry tag along during the events of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Tom and Jerry will arrive in theaters on April 16, 2021.