Talk about cat-itude. Following in the pawsteps of Mike Myers and Martin Short, Bill Hader is the latest actor to embody Dr. Seuss‘s iconic chapeu-wearing feline in Warner Bros. Animation’s upcoming animated version of The Cat in the Hat. Due in theaters on February 27, the release marks the return of the studio’s previously dormant theatrical animation division, which teased a full slate of new feature-length cartoons at CinemaCon earlier this year.
The CinemaCon crowd was also treated to early footage from the The Cat in the Hat, including some non-finished sequences. But all the digital ink and paint is dry on the first trailer for the film, which debuted today and promised plenty of Seussian imagery and tomfoolery.
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Hader, for one, is happy to provide the voice for the Cat in the Hat’s latest onscreen life. “I remember reading the book as a kid and then reading it to my own kids,” he remarked during a pre-trailer release press event that Gold Derby attended. “[Being offered] the chance to play such an iconic character … I was like, ‘Yes!'”
Here’s what you can expect from The Cat in the Hat when he slinks into multiplexes in early 2026.
What’s the story?
If you’re stuck indoors when the sun’s not shining and it’s too wet to play, consider yourselves catnip for the Cat in the Hat. His corporate job tasks with turning children’s frowns upside down, the exuberant feline makes house calls whenever fun is lacking. The Cat’s latest assignment? Enlivening the existence of a pair of siblings still mired in that loneliness phase of being new-in-town.
But in the process of bringing great cheer, the Cat also gets in great trouble. After being implicated in a zoo-related act of malfeasance, he sets out to clear his name — and keep his company from clawing back his hat — with the help of his new pals, some familiar Seuss critters and two very special Things.
Not all of that plot is in this first teaser, though, as co-directors Erica Rivinoja and Alessandro Carloni told reporters that they consciously wanted to put tone before story. “This is really introducing our version of the Cat in the Hat and getting into our more modern take on this,” noted Rivinoja.
“We’re not giving away anything about the evolution of the narrative of our movie,” echoed Carloni, promising that future trailers will provide more plot details. “We’re so excited to actually get to explore fantastical, incredible worlds that we’ve never seen before.”
Who else is in it?
While Hader provides a voice from Saturday Night Live past, Bowen Yang is on hand to represent SNL present. Marvel’s Xochitl Gomez, Girls5Eva‘s Paula Pell and British comic Matt Berry are also in the vocal mix, as is Abbott Elementary‘s Quinta Brunson as the Cat’s best work friend: Sherry from Human Resources.
“Getting Bill and Quinta in the room was putting two comedy icons together,” raved Rivinoja. And Carloni confirmed that the cast really did occupy the same recording space on multiple occasions — something that’s increasingly rare for studio animation. “We wanted to make sure that Bill and his character had someone to play against,” he noted.
It’s worth noting that Hader has had previous hatted cat experience. He played a much, much more adult version of the character in a 2014 SNL sketch. “They didn’t write that for me because they knew I loved the book,” Hader joked of that earlier rendition. “I think the writers were going through an issue in their marriage and used the Cat in the Hat as a way of indirectly commenting on that!”
How’s the visual vibe?
According to the filmmakers — and backed up by the trailer — The Cat in the Hat will unfold in multiple realities, including our world and a land that’s practically Seussian in every way. “In the rendering of surfaces and the shape of objects, we created the Cat’s world as if it’s the world of Dr. Seuss,” Carloni promised. “But we also created a world that is more grounded and believable; not quite as photorealistic as our reality, but very relatable.”
“The unique thing about this movie is that you get to see multiple movies in one,” Carloni continued. “We traverse different universes, and we put that onscreen.”
For the directors, that approach was the best way to pay homage to the richly imagined — and riotously funny — worlds that Dr. Seuss conjured on the page. “Dr. Seuss had sophisticated humor that worked on all levels, and we just really wanted to retain that in animation,” Rivinoja said. Of course, kids can only take so much sophistication in their entertainment. “There are also a lot of very classy fart jokes,” she admitted with a laugh.
Will there be more Dr. Seuss animated features?
Do fox wear socks? At CinemaCon, Warner Bros. Animation head Bill Damaschke said that The Cat in the Hat is the Iron Man-style gateway to a whole “Seussiverse.” The next installment is an adaptation of Oh, the Places You’ll Go! that’s co-directed by Wicked maestro Jon M. Chu with songs from Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
While a Cat in the Hat sequel hasn’t been announced, the creative team already sounded purrfectly game for a reunion. “At the end of the day, we got paid to be silly all the time,” Rivinoja said. “It’s a pretty good job, I suppose.”
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