Actor Owen Wilson, who has Fantastic Mr. Fox being released later this month, has signed on to another voice-acting job, this time as the voice of comic character Marmaduke, in a hybrid live-action/CG film to be distributed by Fox, according to THR. Wilson will be joining an already established cast of George Lopez, Emma Stone, Steve Coogan, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and two of the Wayans brothers. The humans will be played by Lee Pace, William H. Macy, and Judy Greer. The picture will be directed by Tom Day, whom Wilson previously worked with on Shanghai Noon.

The plot is described as “Marmaduke navigate a volatile Mutts vs. Pedigrees turf war, woo the purebred of his dreams and overcome a fall from grace”. Sounds compelling! In all reality, the plot of this movie won’t really matter, as people will see it for the talking dogs who always end up saying wacky things! (Did I mention people are stupid?) The movie is set to start filming soon, as it’s scheduled for a June 2010 release.

Who here is excited for this? And I mean actually excited? Why would a Marmaduke movie be considered a good idea to begin with? The inherent problem here is that, as I stated above, quality will not be an issue for the filmmakers, and as a result the audience suffers. I’m willing to bet, in fact, that the reason this is even happening and the reason Owen Wilson was cast is because of the incredible success of Marley & Me at the box office last year for the same studio, and now the exploiting comes with it. The worst part? People will pay to see this. And the last time a famous comedic actor voiced a character in an adaptation of a popular comic strip for Fox? That didn’t end so well.

What are your thoughts on a Marmaduke movie?