'Cats' trivia and fun facts
To the big screen
This is the first adaptation of 'Cats' since the 1998 made-for-television BBC movie.
Release date changed
Universal Pictures originally planned to release Wicked (2021) on this release date.
Movie adaptation
This is Andrew Lloyd Webber's fifth musical to be adapted into a movie following Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), Evita (1996), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1999), and The Phantom of the Opera (2004).
Destiny?
In 'Six Degrees of Separation', Paul (Will Smith) tells dinner guests his father is making a movie of the hit play 'Cats'. Amongst the guests excited to be an extra in the movie of Cats was Sir Ian McKellen.
Tom Hopper
Tom Hooper's second musical movie after Les Misérables (2012).
Change of sex
This is the first time Old Deuteronomy as been represented as female, Judi Dench.
Possible candidates
Anne Hathaway and Rihanna were considered for parts.
Successful musical
The stage version is the fourth-longest-running show in Broadway history, and the sixth-longest-running in London's West End.
Exclusive songs
Andrew Lloyd Webber has written new songs, exclusively for this movie.
A feline coincidence
By coincidence, Taylor Swift had released the first official merchandise for her two cats, Olivia and Meredith, earlier the same day that her casting in this movie was announced.
A failed attempt
Steven Spielberg's Amblimation planned to adapt the musical into an animated movie, but abandoned it when the studio shut down.