Cats (film)

Cats is a 2019 musical fantasy film based on the stage musical of the same name by Andrew Lloyd Webber, which in turn was based on the poetry collection Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939) by T. S. Eliot. The film is directed by Tom Hooper—in his second feature musical following Les Misérables (2012)—from a screenplay by Lee Hall and Hooper and features an ensemble cast, including James Corden, Judi Dench, Jason Derulo, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, Taylor Swift, Rebel Wilson, and Francesca Hayward.

Cats was theatrically released in the United States and the United Kingdom on 20 December 2019, by Universal Pictures. The film received negative reviews from critics, who criticized its CGI effects, plot, and tone. It has grossed $38 million on a production budget as high as $100 million, making it a box-office bomb.

Plot
In the streets of London, a white kitten named Victoria is abandoned by her owner. A group of alley cats around witness this and introduce her into the world of the "Jellicle" tribe. Mr. Mistoffelees, a meek magician who develops a romantical interest in Victoria at first sight, Munkustrap, a loyal, scout-ish cat, and Demeter and Cassandra, a duo of snooty bodyguards, take Victoria under their wing, telling her of their customs and the Jellicle Ball, an annual ceremony where many cats compete for the chance to go to the Heaviside Layer and be granted a new life.

A group of Jellicles introduce Victoria to a handful of the competitors, who show off their contributions to the community: Jennyanydots, a domestic tabby who boosts the productivity of mice and roaches; the Rum Tum Tugger, a capricious tomcat who riles up the others; Bustopher Jones, a bourgeois cat who boasts about his weight and shares food from the garbage; Skimbleshanks, a tidy ginger cat who taps along the railways; Gus, an ancient theater cat who's played in some of the biggest theaters in history; and Macavity, a villainous stray who plans to kidnap the other contestants and reach the Heaviside Layer as a birthright. His first victim happens to be Jennyanydots when she refuses to follow the group when they dance and sing with Bustopher Jones. He charms her with agreeing to how she should be on the world stage and how much talent she has. He kidnaps her when she realizes who he is.

After being left behind by the group, Victoria raids a house with the playful twins Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, who, in turn, leave her for the home's dog. She is ultimately saved by Mr. Mistoffelees. He distracts the dog and they escape the house and return to the group, just in time to meet the tribe's wise and beloved matriarch Old Deuteronomy. Old Deuteronomy commences the Jellicle Ball, hosted inside of the abandoned Egyptian Theater. Victoria dances a ballet solo in the moonlight, but is distracted by the harassment of Grizabella, a former member of the tribe whom they banished for, among other things, her past allegiance with Macavity. Victoria relates to Grizabella's sentimentality and their quiet camaraderie is witnessed by Old Deuteronomy, who assures Victoria that, despite not being a Jellicle Cat, she can become one in time. Bombalurina, a new, femme fatale feline, interrupts the proceedings and sings Macavity's praises. As she, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer douse the Jellicles in catnip to distract them, Macavity kidnaps Old Deuteronomy, threatening to drown her after his pleas for a new life are rejected. Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer insist that they had no idea that Macavity would take Old Deuteronomy and they were just having fun. Distraught over their leader's disappearance, the cats have hit a wall on what to do. Victoria soon suggests that Mr.Mistoffelees uses his magic to try and conjure Old Deuteronomy back; after a few tries, he manages to rescue Old Deuteronomy in this manner, and the rest of the tribe praise him as their emancipator. Victoria and Mr. Mistoffelees dance together and become mates, having fallen for each other. Meanwhile, Jennyanydots, via a costume change, frees herself and the other kidnapees, i.e., Bustopher Jones, Gus, and Skimbleshanks, who all make their narrow escape from Macavity's henchman, Growltiger.

Grizabella returns to the Egyptian, where she is vouched for by Victoria who implores everyone to hear her out. Grizabella proceeds to sing a passionate ballad about her mistakes, her former glory and her beauty. The song touches the hearts of the Jellicles, most of all Old Deuteronomy, who names Grizabella the winner. Grizabella reaches the Heaviside Layer via a hot air balloon/chandelier repaired by Mr. Mistoffelees' magic. In one last attempt to reach the Heaviside Layer, Macavity leaps onto a rope from the chandelier but falls off and gets trapped on top of a knight statue. The Jellicles, reunited with their kidnapped brethren and rid of Macavity, see Grizabella off from a lion statue as the morning sun rises. They soon salute Grizabella and disperse, leaving Old Deuteronomy to welcome Victoria to her tribe for acting as a good Samaritan today.

Cast

 * James Corden as Bustopher Jones
 * Judi Dench as Old Deuteronomy
 * Jason Derulo as Rum Tum Tugger
 * Idris Elba as Macavity
 * Jennifer Hudson as Grizabella
 * Ian McKellen as Gus the Theatre Cat
 * Taylor Swift as Bombalurina
 * Rebel Wilson as Jennyanydots
 * Francesca Hayward as Victoria
 * Jaih Betote as Coricopat
 * Les Twins as Plato and Socrates
 * Jonadette Carpio as Syllabub
 * Danny Collins as Mungojerrie
 * Olivia Cowley
 * Laurie Davidson as Mr. Mistoffelees
 * Robert Fairchild as Munkustrap
 * Melissa Madden Gray as Griddlebone
 * Steven McRae as Skimbleshanks
 * Naoimh Morgan as Rumpleteazer
 * Daniela Norman as Demeter
 * Bluey Robinson as Alonzo
 * Freya Rowley as Jellylorum
 * Zizi Strallen as Tantomile
 * Mette Towley as Jemima
 * Eric Underwood as Admetus
 * Ray Winstone as Growltiger

Development
An animated film adaptation based on the musical was initially planned by Amblimation in the 1990s, but was abandoned with the studio's closure. In December 2013, Andrew Lloyd Webber, creator and composer of the musical stage production Cats, teased that Universal Pictures, which purchased film adaptation rights to Cats many years ago, was putting the project into active development.

In February 2016, it was reported that Tom Hooper was in negotiations to direct the film, and was considering actresses, including Suki Waterhouse, to star. In May 2016, Hooper was confirmed as director.

In January 2018, Hooper and Working Title began officially casting for the film, whilst also looking into the technical aspect of whether the film would be entirely live-action, or computer generated, or a mix of both, with Andrew Lloyd Webber announcing he would be writing a new song for the film adaptation.

Casting
In June 2018, there were reports Anne Hathaway and Rihanna were considered for roles in the film, but both passed due to scheduling conflicts. In July 2018, Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift, James Corden and Ian McKellen joined the cast.

In September 2018, Laurie Davidson and Mette Towley were cast, with Steven Spielberg announced to be executive producing. In October 2018, Idris Elba and Judi Dench joined the cast of the film.

In November 2018, ballet dancers Francesca Hayward and Steven McRae as well as Rebel Wilson, Jason Derulo, and Robert Fairchild joined the cast of the film with rehearsals commencing at Leavesden Studios in Hertfordshire, England. Andy Blankenbuehler choreographed the film, after Wayne McGregor was forced to back out due to "scheduling conflicts." In December 2018, Les Twins and Eric Underwood joined the cast.

Filming
Principal photography began on 12 December 2018, and ended on 2 April 2019. Swift said that the cast attended "cat school", in which "We would literally do hours on end of barefoot crawling on the floor, hissing at each other". Hooper said at the 16 December world premiere that he had finished it "at 8am the previous day after 36 hours in a row".

Music
Music for the film was composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. A "highlights" edition of the soundtrack with a running time of 59 minutes was released on 20 December 2019, by Polydor Records and in the US by Republic Records. The song "Beautiful Ghosts" by Taylor Swift, a single from the soundtrack album, was released on 15 November 2019.

Visual effects
Cats uses extensive visual effects throughout to convert the live-action actors to computer-animated cats. Companies that worked on the film include Industrial Light & Magic and Technicolor SA subsidiaries Mill Film and MPC. To aid this, the actors performed in motion capture suits with tracking dots on their costumes and faces. The bodies of the cat characters were rendered with digital fur which was blended with the actor's actual faces.

Substantial work on the VFX for Cats was performed at MPC Vancouver, which had previous worked on re-doing the visual effects for Sonic the Hedgehog.

Release
The film is due for a theatrical release on December 20, 2019.

CGI glitches and modified release
The film's original release contained numerous CGI errors and glitches, such as one scene in which Judi Dench's human hand, complete with her wedding ring, appears instead of her character's cat paw. After poor reviews, Universal notified theaters on opening day that an updated Digital Cinema Package with "some improved visual effects" would be available for download on 22 December, urging them to replace the current print as soon as possible. Studio executives and theater owners said that the decision to release a modified version of a film already in wide release was "unheard of".

Marketing
On April 6, 2019, Jennifer Hudson performed "Memory" at the Las Vegas CinemaCon, along with a behind-the-scenes look with the film's cast and crew. On July 17, 2019, Universal released a behind-the-scenes featurette detailing the various aspects of the film's production and featuring interviews with the cast and crew. The first trailer for the film was released on 18 July 2019, and received overwhelmingly negative reactions from viewers. Many viewers were unsettled by the mix of CGI and live-action used to portray the cats, and cited the effects as an example of the uncanny valley, with some comparing it unfavourably to the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog film, which also sparked similar criticism. The studio spent about $115 million on global promotions and advertisements for the film.

Box office
As of December 29, 2019, Cats has grossed $17.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $20.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $38.4 million, against a production budget of about $90 million. Estimates for how much the film would lose the studio range from $71–100 million.

In the United States and Canada, Cats was initially projected to gross $15–20 million in its opening weekend. Universal hoped that the film would appeal to young women as counterprogramming against Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and emphasized Swift in marketing despite her only appearing for one song. Swift did not heavily promote the film to her fans. After making $2.6 million on its opening day (including $550,000 from Thursday night previews), estimates for Cats were lowered to $7 million. It went on to debut to $6.5 million, finishing fourth at the box office. The underperformance was attributed to dislike of the trailers, poor reviews of the film itself, and competition from Skywalker. The film's audience was older than expected at 55% between 18 and 44; Frozen II, also marketed to young women, made more money from domestic theaters ($12.4 million) in its fifth weekend than Cats ' s $10.9 million global gross. The 2017 musical The Greatest Showman became a sleeper hit despite also debuting in late December with mixed reviews and low opening weekend box office, but it had an "A" grade from CinemaScore. On its second weekend Cats made $4.8 million (a total of $8.7 million over the five-day Christmas frame), falling to eighth.

Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 18% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 242 reviews, with an average rating of 3.76/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Despite its fur-midable cast, this Cats adaptation is a clawful mistake that will leave most viewers begging to be put out of their mew-sery." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 32 out of 100 based on 50 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an average 0.5 out of 5 stars, with 30% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Accolades
Variety reported on 26 December 2019 that Universal had removed Cats from its For Your Consideration Web page. The film is not available on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences's private streaming media platform for award contenders.