The first, furry glimpses of the upcoming live action movie version of the musical “Cats” have left viewers distressed and unhappy after its feline creatures were described as “cursed” and nightmarish.
The CGI human-cat hybrids were unveiled in trailer on overnight, to widespread horror on social media.
From Tom Hooper, the Oscar-winning director of The King’s Speech, the film stars Jennifer Hudson, Idris Elba, Rebel Wilson, Jason Derulo, Taylor Swift, Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Judi Dench.
In what Universal labelled as “digital fur technology”, the film uses the actors’ faces and covers their bodies in computer-generated fur as they sing and dance on a larger-than-life set.
The trailer racked up more than 100,000 views in the first hour and the #Cats hashtag quickly became the top trending item on Twitter.
But many fans did not appreciate what had happened to these beloved actors.
no one wants to see dame judy dench like this pic.twitter.com/29bVRFg7J0
— james hennessy (@jrhennessy) July 18, 2019
Some complained about the size of the cats (too small) while other pointed out they had visible breasts.
https://twitter.com/nsilverberg/status/1151970028310474753
Many also asked why such well-known actors of stage and screen had been deformed in such a way, rather than just wear costumes like in the original 1981 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.
There are no words to describe the CATS trailer, but I wrote some anyway. https://t.co/RmHuj8ek4f
— Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) July 19, 2019
“Cats” previously held the records for the longest-running musical in both Broadway and West End histories. As of 2018, it remains the fourth-longest-running Broadway show and the sixth-longest-running West End show. It has been translated into 15 languages and has been performed around the world many times.
“Cats” the movie is scheduled for release at Christmas
