Warner Bros.’ The Cat in the Hat Delays Release Over 8 Months
Warner Bros.‘ upcoming animated movie, The Cat in the Hat, has changed its release date from March 6, 2026 to November 6, 2026.
A couple of “things” are going on with the latest adaptation of the Dr. Seuss classic, The Cat in the Hat. Number one, the release date has been pushed back more than a whole eight months, possibly to avoid competition with Disney/Pixar’s highly anticipated Hoppers. Number two, we don’t know if the new 2026 version will be any good.
If you saw Superman, you probably saw the trailer for the new Bill Hader animated comedy, The Cat in the Hat, which played in front of it. The forthcoming Dr. Seuss picture was originally promised for March 6, 2026, but was pushed up to late February due to the competition that could come from Hoppers. Now, we’re looking at November 6, 2026 to finally see the finished product.
Whatever sort of “things” are going on behind the scenes of the forthcoming Hader (who previously played the famed title character on “Saturday Night Live”) vehicle, the movie probably will not be ready in time for the initially planned release date. Or maybe Warner Bros. just wants to avoid stiff competition and play at a time where family audiences go to the movies more. The avoidance of a summer 2026 release date probably points more to the possibility that the movie may not be finished and perfected by the initial proposed release date.
The Cat in the Hat was previously made into a live-action 2003 disaster that was hurt by Mike Myers so-so rendition of the titular character. That film barely clocked in at over 80-minutes, got a low “B-” CinemaScore mark (a grade unheard of in big studio family movie territory) and made just $101 million domestically at a time and season where family audiences truly went out to the movies. You can (maybe) blame the fact that the old book from 1957 has a threadbare plot – hey, it’s a kids’ book. It looks like the 2026 version has upped the ante with the plot and added more “Things” to the story line. There are just a couple of characters known as “Things” in the book and old movie, but a lot of “Things” beyond Thing 1 and Thing 2 in the 2026 edition, so it looks like a lot of effort was put in this time out as opposed to what happened in 2003.
An animated version of Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch became a hit back in 2018 and made over half a billion dollars worldwide. Warner Bros. is probably hoping for similar success for The Cat in the Hat which will be released in early November of 2026. November 2018 saw The Grinch succeed so it just may be a better time for the new Bill Hader voice-driven comedy to thrive. Warner Bros. wants a hit and we all want a better The Cat in the Hat than the 2003 movie so there’s plenty of time for the filmmakers to polish the upcoming Seuss adaptation and score big-time box-office.
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