LOS ANGELES — For the first time, Hello Kitty is coming to Hollywood.

But will a character who never talks finally get to speak?

Warner Bros. said on Tuesday that its New Line division and the producer Beau Flynn had persuaded the Sanrio Corporation of Tokyo — after a five-year courtship — to entrust its $6 billion cat to the studio for a feature film. Sanrio, which created Hello Kitty in 1974 and groomed her into a merchandising superstar, has never brought the character to global movie screens. That has allowed her to remain silent: Hello Kitty has no mouth.

Well-known intellectual properties of all kinds — even apps and emojis — have become coveted by movie studios like Warner as a way to compete with a free-spending Netflix and a supersized Disney. “It’s a rare privilege to have the opportunity to explore the possibilities of such timeless I.P.,” Carolyn Blackwood and Richard Brener, the presidents of New Line, said in a statement about their feline coup.

The film deal also involves related merchandise rights and possible spinoff projects. Terms were not disclosed. New Line can use roughly 20 Sanrio characters, including the popular Gudetama, a disgruntled cracked egg, and My Melody, a rabbit who wears long ear warmers. (No word about Spottie Dottie, a Dalmatian with a pink headband.)