The world of digital fur tech has taken quite a blow with the release of this year's Tom Hooper-directed take on Cats. And now, perVariety, the baffling entry in American cinema is calling it quits with regards to its major awards campaign.
The widely panned movie (starring James Corden, Taylor Swift, and Jason Derulo, among others) has been pulled from Universal's For Your Consideration page and is also no longer featured on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' streaming platform. That platform, of course, is where Academy members can watch potential Oscars contenders. Taylor Swift and Andrew Lloyd Webber's original song "Beautiful Ghosts" also failed to secure a spot on the Oscars shortlist.
At the time of this writing, the Cats global box office haul stands at just over $15 million, which is presumably not what the Powers That Be intended. Reviews have been similarly awful, though Hooper expressed pride about the project's completion in a recently published extended chat with The Atlantic.
"I genuinely feel like it’s a great film to see in the cinema, because you’re being transported to a hyper-real world," Hooper. whose previous directing credits include The King's Speech and His Dark Materials, said. "The decision to be in that room, turn your phone off, commit—that's the best way to see it."
Among the release setbacks for the movie, famously, has been the quick release of an updated version containing improved special effects.
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