Tom Hooper to direct film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats is heading to the big screen. The word from Variety is that Tom Hooper (LES MISERABLES, THE DANISH GIRL) has been set to direct and produce a film adaptation of the long-running musical for Universal and Working Title. Hooper will also produce the project with Debra Hayward, and Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner from Working Title.

Based on T.S. Eliot’s poetry collection "Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats," the musical "centers on a tribe of cats called the Jellicles who must decide nightly which one will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life."

The Sun was the first to break the news that Hooper was in talks to direct (followed by The Daily Mail), and the rumor is he is hoping to cast THE DIVERGENT SERIES: INSURGENT and PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES actress Suki Waterhouse in the film. Apparently the director is also trying to decide if the movie should be made "using computer generated images or live action — or a combination of both, like Disney’s recent global blockbuster The Jungle Book."

It hasn't been announced when CATS will head into production, but filming could start as early as this year.