WB’s Animated Cat in the Hat Movie Delayed

Back in 2018 Warner Bros. Pictures announced plans for a series of animated Dr. Seuss movies including The Cat in the Hat. Later, in October of 2020, when time crawled to a standstill and many Hollywood announcements ended up going nowhere, the animated reboot was given a release date of February 23, 2024. Now the film has been pushed back, either a year or two years depending, according to the new head of animation at WB. Deadline brings word from President of Feature Animation Bill Damaschke, who recently landed the top spot at the studio, who confirmed the movie has been delayed.

Part of Damaschke’s new reign leading animation at Warner Bros. is a name changes. He confirmed that instead of being known as Warner Animation Group, this branch of the WB tree will be Warner Bros. Pictures Animation. Moving forward they have plans to release two major movies a year through this label, explicitly mentioning The Cat in the Hat animated movie as arriving as “either a 2025 or 2026 theatrical release.” The same article confirms plans for a new Flintstones animated movie as well.

When The Cat in the Hat animated movie was first announced it came with the reveal that it would be just the first part in an expanded Suess-centric universe of movies that were in the works. In addition to Cat in the Hat, animated movies based on “Thing One and Thing Two” and the Seuss classic Oh, the Places You’ll Go! were also confirmed. No update was offered on either of these projects in Damaschke’s new interview. 

“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,” Dr. Seuss Enterprises CEO Susan Brandt previously told Vanity Fair. “I call it stretching the fabric. How far can it go, to go a little bit deeper with our characters.”  

As fans may recall, for the longest time Dr. Seuss adaptations were limited to animated television specials, before 2000’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas seemingly blew the doors off the potential for live-action adaptations. This was quickly stopped almost immediately by the live-action version of The Cat in the Hat, with only animated movies happening in its wake. Animated adaptations of Horton Hears a Who!, The Lorax, and The Grinch would follow, plus a TV series of Green Eggs and Ham on Netflix that ran for two seasons.