Dr. Seuss' Oh The Places You'll Go! Movie Gets A Director

Back in October, it was announced that the world of Dr. Seuss was getting "an expansive filmmaking deal" with Warner Animation Group. It was revealed that the first-ever adaptation of Oh, the Places You'll Go! would be coming as well as a new animated version of The Cat in the Hat and a spin-off about Thing One and Thing Two. Today, Deadline shared the news that Oh, the Places You'll Go! has found its director. Jon M. Chu, who previously helmed G.I. Joe Retaliation, Crazy Rich Asians, and In the Heights, is signed on to helm the animated feature. This news comes less than a week after it was announced that Chu's Wicked movie will star Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.   

Deadline reports that Oh, the Places You'll Go! will be released in 2027 and will be adapted by J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions. The film will be "a globetrotting animated musical following a young adventurer as they journey through the joys and heartaches, and the peaks and valleys, of life." Abrams is producing alongside Hannah Minghella, Bad Robot's Head of Motion Pictures. This will mark Chu's first time directing an animated feature.

"Seuss builds worlds," Allison Abbate, executive vice president of Warner Animation Group, previously shared. "There are so many questions that he posits, which is why we can read and reread those stories. It has been exciting for us to think about it as world-building and not just a single story."

As for The Cat in the Hat, the movie will be released first in 2024 and is set to be directed by South Park's Erica Rivinoja and Tinker Bell's Art Hernandez. While we've seen The Cat in the Hat on the big screen before, the 2003 live-action movie starring Michael Myers was a notorious flop. In fact, the movie has a 9% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes. The Thing One and Thing Two movie is currently scheduled for 2026.

"For the first time we're not just doing one film for one book. We're going to franchise-build beyond the initial story of these books and find out what happens next," Susan Brandt, president of Dr. Seuss Enterprises, explained. "I call it stretching the fabric. How far can it go, to go a little bit deeper with our characters ... The Cat in the Hat will not meet the boy in Oh, the Places You'll Go, nor would the Things go visit the Lorax," Brandt revealed. "While it will all feel like part of the Seuss universe, they live in their worlds, and they're not necessarily going to interact in the same films."

How do you feel about Jon M. Chu directing Oh, the Places You'll Go? Tell us in the comments!