Meet the million dollar moggy, Grumpy Cat

SHE has a best-selling book, a movie in the works and is on the cover of  New York magazine - and she doesn't  look pleased.

Grumpy cat

SHE has a best-selling book, a movie in the works and a spot on the cover of this week's New York magazine - and she does not look particularly pleased about any of it.

That has been the key to her success. This is America's latest celebrity: Grumpy Cat, a mixed-breed feline from Arizona with panda-patches around each blue eye that lend her an expression of permanent disdain. That frown is worth a million dollars.

"If we sell this property to someone right now it would be worth a lot more than that," said Kia Kamran, a Los Angeles lawyer who represents the interests of Grumpy Cat. These interests are many and multiplying.

She has a lucrative deal as the "spokescat" for the pet food company Friskies, a pet odour spray and a line of T-shirts, caps and masks. Her branded coffee drink, Grumpuccino, will be in stores next month and an upmarket fluffy toy will be in shops for Christmas.

In negotiations over the film, "we are using Peter Jackson's attorney", said Mr Kamran. "You bring in the right people."

Grumpy Cat is only the latest feline to find streets paved with gold. Before her came Keyboard Cat, who plays the piano, and Lil Bub, a tabby from Indiana who has just begun hosting her own late night talk show.

"To me, Keyboard Cat is like the Elvis of the internet cat phenomenon," said Ben Lashes, a former music executive that Mr Kamran calls the Malcolm McLaren of internet cat celebrities and other characters on the internet that go viral - so-called memes. He is now orchestrating Grumpy catmania.

On a recent visit to New York, Grumpy Cat provoked spontaneous outbreaks of hysteria among her fans. "One girl ... started hyperventilating ... She had tears in her eyes. It was like John Lennon was there," he says, in the documentary, Lil Bub & Friendz. "These are the new pop culture characters that people care about," he says "Bart Simpson, Mickey Mouse, no one cares about the old characters any more. The cats, that's what the future is."

Depending on your point of view, this statement either signifies the refreshing breeze of a new creative democracy or the cultural vacuum that presages the apocalypse. In either case, it is clear which way the wind is blowing. As he spoke, it was possible to imagine fraught meetings at Disney and an executive pounding the table like Henry II and shouting: "Will no one rid me of these troublesome cats?"

"Nickelodeon and Disney, those big institutions put all this marketing behind their properties to get them to the same level that these new properties became on their own," said Mr Kamran. Why do they all seem to be cats? "I think it's the lowest common denominator," he said. "I'm not a cat person myself." Then he added: "But I'm a professional with a job to do."

It is not only Disney's mice who are threatened by the cats. David Letterman ought to be concerned too. On Thursday night Lil Bub, a shorthaired tabby whose mangled features have made her one of the biggest names in online show business, hosted her third talk show. She appeared behind a desk in a studio in Chicago, communicating in meows and purrs with the rock musician Steve Albini. Her previous guests have included Whoopi Goldberg. Audience figures have been a respectable 300,000: less than Piers Morgan Live, more than Nancy Grace.

Although Grumpy Cat and Lil Bub are said to be "friendz", an element of rivalry is intruding as the stakes grow.

Mike Bridavsky, 33, Lil Bub's owner, is preparing a holiday special with the Animal Planet channel. "She's throwing a holiday party with celebrities and famous cats," he said. He is hoping to get David Lynch and Pee Wee Herman, along with Colonel Meow, Princess Monster Truck and Hamilton the Hipster Cat. Would Grumpy Cat be there? "Probably not," he said. "I think Grumpy Cat has contractual obligations to do other stuff."

The Times