If you went solely by his previous work, you may have rightly suspected that director Tom Hooper's CATS was destined for greatness. After all his sophomore effort THE KING'S SPEECH won him an Academy Award for Best Director and his musical LES MISERABLES was a smash hit with audiences. However, like the adage says, "Past performance does not guarantee future outcome." The only thing CATS was destined for was the ignominy of being one of the worst films of 2019 and possibly being a ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW-esque cult classic in the future.
One of the many reasons CATS was a commercial disaster was its release date. In a move that truly boggles the mind, Universal Pictures decided to release the film on December 20 – the exact same day as a little space opera called STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER. Not surprisingly the concluding film in the Skywalker saga buried CATS in the kitty litter, taking in a massive $177 million opening weekend against CATS' paltry $6 million. That's barely enough to cover the cost of the string and catnip budget for the film.
Although STAR WARS actor John Boyega starred in the movie that was CATS' competition, apparently he feels that maybe he picked the wrong film. Boyega, who has a strong social media presence, decided to imagine what it would have been like had he starred in CATS. But we're not just talking one role here. We are talking ALL of the roles. In an exericse that is equal parts hilarious and nightmare fuel, Boyega took to his Instagram account to showcase a video featuring himself as every cat from Bustopher Jones to Rumpleteazer. Check it out:
Is it possible to have a facial expression that perfectly balances abject horror with jocular hilarity? If so, that is the face I am currently displaying. I thought the early renditions of the CATS' actors as various felines was terrifying but this is some next level creepy shit. I have to admire John Boyega's efforts here. And if I'm being perfectly honest, I could definitely have seen him in Tom Hooper's CATS. Probably only as a single feline however.
So what did you guys think of this video? Did you find it horrifying? Hilarious? Both? Did you get a chance to check out CATS in theaters? Sound off in the comments below!