Something something cat-astrophe, etc…
Hey kids, seen Cats yet?
You’ve almost certainly spotted the instant cult appeal of the thing, what with some terrifying trailers emerging in recent months and an eventual critical reception so vicious that it became its own unforgiving subculture.
It’s worth popping over to the Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic pages for the film to get a flavour of just how sour some of the takes have been.
There really is something fascinating about a big-budget flop, almost like the world of cinema demands a blood sacrifice every few years for balance or something.
In the case of Cats, you have a star-studded – Taylor Swift! James Corden! Idris Elba! Judi Dench! Jason DeRulo! Rebel Wilson! Ian McKellan! Ray Winstone! Others, presumably! – affair that, despite being based on a long-running musical, nobody really asked for.
Throw in legitimately nightmarish visuals, a noticeably rushed production – and post-production, with the thing basically being patched like a video game in the days following its initial release – and going up against the final Star Wars film in the sequel trilogy and the entire project feels very misguided indeed.
Despite attracting a curiosity buzz due to all of the aforementioned reasons, Cats just hasn’t clicked with audiences and is now on course to make a huge loss.
Variety reports that the Tom Hooper-directed disaster looks set to lose $100 million at the box office, having clawed in just $38 million worldwide over two weeks.
Cats was originally quoted at the cost of $100 million to produce, with a further estimated $95 million on top for marketing and distribution fees.
That overall figure rose when new prints of the film were issued to cinemas, improving the quality of the CGI and removing on-screen mistakes that viewers had spotted in the original run.
According to reports, Cats is expected to finish its American box office run at under $30 million, having taken $17.8 million domestically thus far.
The final international figure will be one to keep an eye on, for sure.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
