The Cat in the Hat, the Dr Seuss children’s book, published in 1957, is about two siblings left home alone on a rainy day. Their boredom is interrupted by the mischievous Cat in the Hat, who promises to entertain them. The Cat, a tall, humanoid feline in a red-and-white striped hat, creates chaos in the house, involving the children in wild adventures.
Come February 2026 and Warner Bros. Pictures Animation is all set to take this beloved tale and spin it into an animated theatrical feature film which it describes as “an all-new, epic adventure with an edge, where mischief, magic and mayhem reign supreme”.
The Cat — voiced by actor Bill Hader — has been known for its singularly irreverent ways, and in The Cat in the Hat, he faces his toughest assignment. He needs to cheer Gabby and Sebastian, a pair of siblings struggling with their move to a new town. Known as an ‘agent of chaos’ — and not without reason — The Cat has a last chance to prove himself... or lose his magical hat.
At the trailer launch of the film, held virtually with select global media, including The Telegraph, recently, Hader, along with the film’s directors Erica Rivinoja and Alessandro Carloni, spoke about the timeless appeal of the story and the modern twist they have lent to it.
The launch kicked off with Bill Damaschke, president of Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, revealing what The Cat in the Hat means to the company’s burgeoning list of animated titles. “Animation has been the cornerstone of Warner Bros. and we are doubling down on that commitment of telling original stories. We are curating a list, with The Cat in the Hat being the ambassador of what we are trying to do. We had the opportunity to go beyond the book and create something that is truly a big cinematic adventure,” was the word from Damaschke.
Cue for Hader and the director duo at the helm of The Cat in the Hat to make an entrance, with the top-of-the-hat question being: how does one retain the heart of the original while modernising the movie for the audiences of today?
“The Cat in the Hat is such a beloved character. It is classic and iconic and everyone has a relationship with him because he is such a wishful film character... we call him the agent of chaos. What every kid wants to have is this one day of craziness and chaos,” said Erica Rivinoja, to which her co-director Alessandro Carloni added: “We used the book as a jumping point, so much so that the book became a question for us, which is: ‘Is this story only about capturing chaos or is there more to it?’”
A live-action feature film based on The Cat in the Hat was released in 2003, but didn’t meet with either success or praise. Carloni emphasises on how a story like this is enriched further by animation where there is virtually no limit to one’s imagination. “The greatest thing about animation is that it has to be created from scratch. Everything is open for us to imagine what it would look like. While that means that you can do anything you want, it is also daunting in terms of the limits of what you can create. But it enables us to explore incredible worlds that we haven’t done before.”
According to its makers, The Cat in the Hat is the only Dr Seuss book in which a whimsical, magical Seussian character enters the real world. “Everytime The Cat leaves its world and enters the real world, it enabled us to create an entirely different set of aesthetics,” said Carloni.
Hader, who voices the titular character, is not new to the gig, having enacted The Cat during his appearances on Saturday Night Live. Plus, the Barry actor had self-admittedly “chased” the makers of The Cat in the Hat to sign him on for the project. “I loved reading that book as a kid and so did my kids. It was one of the first books I read. I would read them at bedtime... I started collecting them. The chance to voice such an iconic character made me want to chase the project and be a part of it,” said Hader. Besides The Cat and a host of other characters adapted from the book, the makers have also introduced new players so as to appeal to a wide range of audiences.
The makers added that the film traverses different worlds and universes — the world of Seuss, the real world and then the world The Cat takes the children into. “The third world becomes yet another platform to explore aesthetics and stylisation. This is several movies in one,” said Carloni.
And if you feel The Cat and his shenanigans are hilarious, then be ready for a wild ride for the other players, most of which will have you at their names — Bug in a Mug, Rat in a Bat, Owl in a Towel, Goat in a Coat, Pig in a Wig, et al. “If you think Cat in The Hat is chaos, you don’t want to meet Rat in a Bat!” is the warning from Team Cat in the Hat. February, we are waiting!