On Wednesday at CinemaCon, here in Las Vegas (I still can’t believe anyone willingly comes to this city for “fun”), Universal Studios put on their presentation with anticipated movies like the Fast and Furious spinoff, Hobbs & Shaw, Danny Boyle’s Beatles themed film, Yesterday, and — probably the most anticipated, based mostly on just the insane cast and that we know so little about it -– Tom Hooper’s adaptation of the Broadway hit, Cats.
Universal saved Cats for last. Unfortunately, there was no footage yet (there was an explanation about how the technology used for Cats has never been used before (I believe the term “fur technology” was spoken) and it just wasn’t ready yet), but we did get both a behind-the-scenes featurette and a live performance by Jennifer Hudson singing “Memory.”
(Jennifer Hudson’s rendition of “Memory” is, unsurprisingly, awesome. I honestly love this song. It gets me every time. I have never seen the stage production of Cats, but I have generally positive feelings towards it based on this song alone. Anyway, yes, Hudson’s performance was dynamite.)
The behind the scenes featurette was, let’s say, a little strange. It was somehow both ridiculous and made me want to see the movie even more. I’m not trying to be snarky, but it kind of played like a Documentary Now episode. There are talking heads shots of Tom Hooper, Idris Elba, and Taylor Swift explaining to the audience why Cats is so meaningful and what it all means to them personally. Then in the next shot we see dancers wearing those ping pong ball CGI suits writhing around on the floor, pawing at the sky. Then we cut back to Hooper explaining why this is so important. I could watch this featurette 30 more times. But, sadly, I can’t.
But, yes, I am sooooo in. My level of anticipation for Cats is now through the roof. It will either be the greatest musical ever released or absurdly ridiculous –- or, more likely, some combination of the two. The cast is amazing, and I do like Tom Hooper’s movies. (I get that The Social Network should have won best picture, but have you watched The King’s Speech recently? It’s really good!)
But, yes, sadly, I, like you, have no idea what these CGI cats will look like. We can still only imagine … all alone in the moonlight. We can dream of the old days. We were beautiful then. We remember the time we knew what happiness was. Let the memory … live … again.
Or, as the great Paul Newman once said, “Where the hell are the singing cats?”
This movie can’t come out fast enough.
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