If the movie Cats had 9 lives, it lost almost all of them this weekend. The big screen adaptation of the Broadway musical made $6.5 million against a budget of nearly $100 million and its current score on Rotten Tomatoes is 19%. It seems audiences aren’t even the least bit curious to see it just for the unintentional comedy.
Any semblance of life for Cats is officially over then, but apparently, Universal has issued a memo to all theaters informing them that an updated version of the film is being sent to them with improved visual effects. Because that was the only issue with Cats, right?
Every year, there are movies that bomb. Whether it’s financially, critically or both, studios must plan on taking a bath on some of their releases. And this year’s no different. Whether it’s The Goldfinch, Dark Phoenix or Gemini Man, they’re not all going to connect with audiences.
But no movie, and I mean no movie, is more of a spectacular failure than Cats. From the moment the first trailer scarred us for life, followers of the industry have been waiting to see how the film would do. What if it’s great? Could it be this year’s The Greatest Showman and become a success? Surely all of the talented people involved knew what they were getting into, right?
The answer to all of those questions is a resounding NO! Well, maybe not the last one. Sometimes actors take a job for the paycheck. I mean, somebody’s gotta pay for Judi Dench’s summer home, right?
In any case, I’ve never heard of a movie getting tinkered with after its release while it’s still in theaters. I figured George Lucas would be the first to do so if he was still making films.
Oh, and on top of all of this, Universal felt it was a good idea to release the pic against The Rise of Skywalker. And it was considered a weak opening for Star Wars, too. So really, Cats never had a chance.
