‘Cats’ Gets Mauled And Is Dead On Arrival At Box Office

Cats (Credit: Universal Pictures)

The fur flew at the weekend box office and Cats was a casualty.

The movie musical — which cost a reported $100 million to make — bombed spectacularly, taking in an estimated $6.5 million, according to Comscore. That was well below the $10 million to $15 million that analysts had expected.

The Universal and Working Title film played in 3,380 theaters in North America, for a per location average of $1,923.

The film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “Cats” was unable to overcome a series of troubles, including negative headlines that began as soon as the first trailer dropped in July.

Fans flooded the comments section on YouTube saying  they were freaked out by the bizarre appearance of the film’s cast that includes Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson, Francesca Hayward, Idris Elba, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Rebel Wilson, James Corden, and Jason Derulo.

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Things got worse once critics watched the finished film,  calling it “terrible,” an artistic “hairball,” and “seemingly scooped out of the litter box.” Cats has a dismal 19 percent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Despite having a big budget, a star-studded cast, and Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) at the helm, the film only managed a fourth place finish at the box office.

While Cats crashed, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker soared.

Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker (Courtesy: Disney)
“Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker” (Courtesy: Disney)

The J.J. Abrams-helmed saga topped the box office with $175.5 million, giving it the third-best opening of the year after Avengers: Endgame and The Lion King.

The film, which is the final chapter of the Skywalker saga, features an ensemble cast, including Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Kelly Marie Tran, Billy Dee Williams, Mark Hamill, Keri Russell, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Richard E. Grant, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Naomi Ackie, Billie Lourd, and Joonas Suotamo.

Elsewhere at the box, Jumanji: The Next Level slipped to second place $26.1 million. Frozen 2 was third with $12.3 million and as mentioned, Cats took fourth place. Rounding out the top five was Knives Out with $6.1 million.

Box Office Chart for Week of Dec. 22, 2019. (Credit: Comscore)

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