The Cat in the Hat

The Cat in the Hat (also known as Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat) is a 2003 American fantasy comedy film directed by Bo Welch in his directorial debut and written by Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer. Loosely based on Dr. Seuss's 1957 book of the same name, it was the second and final live-action feature-length Dr. Seuss adaptation after How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000). The film stars Mike Myers in the title role with Alec Baldwin, Kelly Preston, Dakota Fanning, Spencer Breslin, Amy Hill and Sean Hayes in supporting roles.

Production on the film began in 1997 with Tim Allen originally cast in the title role. After Allen dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with The Santa Clause 2, the role went to Myers. Filming took place in California and lasted three months from late 2002 to early 2003. As with the previous Dr. Seuss adaptation, many new characters and subplots were added to the story to bring it up to feature-length.

The film was released in theaters on November 21, 2003 in the United States by Universal Pictures and internationally by DreamWorks Pictures, and was a financial failure, only grossing $133.9 million against a budget of $109 million and was panned by critics. Seuss's widow, Audrey Geisel, was also critical of the film and decided to disallow any further live-action adaptations of her husband's works, resulting in the cancellation of a sequel based on The Cat in the Hat Comes Back; all Dr. Seuss film adaptations have since been produced using computer animation.

In March 2012, an animated remake was announced by Universal and Illumination but never came to fruition. In 2018, Warner Bros. Pictures via Warner Animation Group announced an animated reboot was again in development.

International versions

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