If you’ve been on social media in the last few hours, chances are you’ll have seen there’s only one word on everyone’s lips… Cats.
Yes, the trailer for the upcoming film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit musical dropped last night and… in all honestly, we don’t quite know where to begin.
From the dodgy CGI and slightly unsettling cat/human hybrids, to Judi Dench’s fur coat, there’s a whole lot to unpack in the two-minute teaser, which offers a first glimpse at cast members Taylor Swift, James Corden and Idris Elba in feline form.
As we mentioned, the trailer has sparked a lot of conversation online, ranging from those who already can’t wait to see the new film, to those who never want to see the image of Jennifer Hudson in cat form ever again.
First off, there was the initial shock after watching it for the first time
when you see the cats trailer pic.twitter.com/n3RWaSv7P6
— Megan Farokhmanesh (@Megan_Nicolett) July 18, 2019
I think I just sicked up in my mouth a little bit at the Cats trailer. I…… it’s too much this late at night. I can’t handle it. pic.twitter.com/R6N9bmNBVe
— Pity The Back Seat (@pitythebackseat) July 18, 2019
Cats. pic.twitter.com/F6lcjy7UYM
— Damien Owens (@OwensDamien) July 18, 2019
Film critics: Midsommar is the most unsettling thing you will see this year, it will envelop you with dread, it will haunt your dreams
Cats trailer: CHALLENGE ACCEPTED— David Cornelius (@david_cornelius) July 18, 2019
Cats coming to take Midsommar's place as the best horror film of 2019. pic.twitter.com/9pNkGjrvtK
— Christian Snale (@christianmcbale) July 19, 2019
I just saw the Cats trailer.
I'm speechless. In a bad way. This movie looks exorbitantly expensive and cheap as hell at the same time.
— Brian (@RunTheJules) July 19, 2019
I'm actually slowly getting used to the CATS trailer but no matter how many times i watched this, this white cat (who seems to be the lead?) still remains unsettling. pic.twitter.com/eGaeQMa1Z8
— ant man… paul (@PaulMovie2) July 19, 2019
tfw your cat wishes to be excluded from this narrative pic.twitter.com/8FY9gK7A46
— Anne T. Donahue (@annetdonahue) July 18, 2019
Woke up suddenly at 3am and the first thing I saw on twitter was the cats trailer,,,it's currently 8:38 am and I'm still scared
— kate (@taylisas) July 19, 2019
Me: Nothing can ever be as surreal as the time I saw Jane McDonald in Cats.
Cats the Movie: Hold my digital fur technology.
— Harry Clayton-Wright (@HClaytonWright) July 18, 2019
Okay but what disturbed me the most is cat Judi dench wearing a fur coat lmao
— Joel (@_supjoel) July 18, 2019
More specifically, there’s been a lot said about the CGI
“We’re going to make a movie of Cats with loads of CGI.”
“What, you mean so that they look more like cats?”
“No.”— Tom Hamilton (@thhamilton) July 18, 2019
What in the uncanny valley bumbaclart is that Cats trailer
— Joash (@Joashaha) July 18, 2019
I’ve looked at a lot of cats in my life and I’ve never seen one with a tail coming out of its ass pic.twitter.com/XnskEXjZax
— Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) July 18, 2019
I took a screenshot and painted over it. Like… I noticed none of the actors had cat noses. Goodness, I can't get over this right now. pic.twitter.com/7HxaSVu5x8
— mssugarpop (@mrssugarpop) July 19, 2019
But why couldn’t we get the original aesthetics? The new #Cats look so strange, too human and yet not human enough… just terribly unsettling pic.twitter.com/uRgx4u8fVE
— l y l a p i e (@Fattfem) July 19, 2019
Obviously, a fair few comparisons have been made
James Corden in #CatsMovie is Cat in the Hat’s tethered pic.twitter.com/VTCMgRR0C7
— scandalous🔮✨ (@browniebbyblues) July 19, 2019
I’ve cracked it. Only took an hour, but I know exactly what CATS looks like. It’s the video for Where’s Your Head At? by Basement Jaxx. pic.twitter.com/AmCNV7u5uU
— Rory Horne (@rorhor) July 18, 2019
Taylor swift and Jason Derulo looked so good 😩😫 pic.twitter.com/L8ra1jnDFD
— Jack (@ScorpioHole) July 18, 2019
Cats (2019)#CatsMoviepic.twitter.com/extbYBeMmo
— Joyce Byers' Clapped Out Banger (@rob_simm) July 18, 2019
Cats (2019) pic.twitter.com/O34TxCj1Cp
— Sophie Hall (@SophLouiseHall) July 18, 2019
CATS (2019) pic.twitter.com/zwRqgRpuuA
— Sam Stryker (@sbstryker) July 18, 2019
— Walton Goggins' Baskin-Robbins (@tylergilfoster) July 18, 2019
The cats musical live action has hermoine from that one Harry Potter scene shook
— Morgan Rhaye is unbelievably proud of Dan and Phil (@a_phancy) July 19, 2019
FIRST LOOK at James Corden as The Penguin in Matt Reeves’ THE BATMAN!
Just kidding… #CatsMoviepic.twitter.com/gHUFOXrfUP
— DR Movie News 🎥 (@DRMovieNews1) July 18, 2019
Do not watch the CATS the movie trailer! It is created by Russians who are stealing people's faces and putting them on cats!!
— Alex Zalben (@azalben) July 18, 2019
CATS (2019) dir. Tom Hooper pic.twitter.com/V7Tw15ykqe
— James Poniewozik (@poniewozik) July 18, 2019
But one in particular has stood out
Bet @SonicMovie able to breath out now Cats trailer has landed
— Rob Holley 🅰️ (@robholley) July 18, 2019
Same energy #CatsMoviepic.twitter.com/ptOmrnqKlA
— Aoife Wilson (@AoifeLockhart) July 18, 2019
🎵 Memory, all alone in the moonlight… pic.twitter.com/kkVvszrC8t
— Lon Harris (@Lons) July 18, 2019
Cats movie and Sonic the Hedgehog movie looks like they belong in the same universe. Its unsettling #CatsMoviepic.twitter.com/nVYie4OAay
— anoe (@anoeosman) July 19, 2019
we owe the team behind the sonic the hedgehog movie a huge apology pic.twitter.com/nDG9Y4qXVZ
— David Mack (@davidmackau) July 19, 2019
Sonic: Here's the weirdest fucking use of animation you'll see this year.
Cats Team: Hold my fur technology.#Catspic.twitter.com/ryMKWQOSep— Atif Riaz (@thatatifriaz) July 18, 2019
Sonic watching the #CatsTrailer like pic.twitter.com/Ty8BKm62Kx
— Franchesca Ramsey (@chescaleigh) July 19, 2019
Everyone: Sonic the Hedgehog could not look any worse.
*Cats trailer comes out*
Everyone: pic.twitter.com/kZGyqXSPuk
— Connor Stone (@stone1492) July 19, 2019
But despite it all, people can’t wait to see it (and frankly, neither can we!)
Me getting ready to see Cats on opening day lol pic.twitter.com/NxMWV37BGA
— Muggy Ebes (@LucieEbrey) July 18, 2019
me convincing my friends to come see cats pic.twitter.com/Q9jkeB0jfF
— Anne T. Donahue (@annetdonahue) July 18, 2019
I’m still so shook by this cats trailer after having interrogated both bffs and brothers alike about their opinions on it.
Mark me down as horrified and absolutely seeing it opening weekend.
— Lissa (@awarningmark) July 19, 2019
i will blow off my family on christmas day to go see cats by myself for hours and hours pic.twitter.com/iWI1WMq3jl
— Anne T. Donahue (@annetdonahue) July 18, 2019
not done it in a while but I fully intend to get *hammered* then go watch Cats in the cinema
— Marie Le Conte (@youngvulgarian) July 18, 2019
Cats looks incredibly awful
I can’t wait to camp outside the theater for the midnight premiere pic.twitter.com/jOP9Kqgbfh— Donovan “The The” Crain (@CrainOnTheBrain) July 18, 2019
I’ve seen a lot of hot takes saying this trailer looks bad. But don’t disrespect this trailer in such a manner. It’s a masterpiece of awful. And I can’t wait for this movie. It’s Cats what did you expect. https://t.co/YoLr34PUkw
— Oliver Hetherington-Page (@ATwistofOliver) July 18, 2019
And in a weird way, it was nice to see people in the usually-divided world of Twitter coming together
extremely into all of the cats jokes. twitter is fun again today. gonna really miss this when we all go back to retweeting some racist college kid tomorrow
— demi adejuyigbe (@electrolemon) July 18, 2019
I'm living for this Cats trailer rn. The Twitter is strong with this one.
— ☆💫Empress of the Void 💫☆ (@HRH_Mh) July 19, 2019
want to try to go to sleep but can’t because Cats Twitter is already too good
— Hannah Jane Parkinson (@ladyhaja) July 18, 2019
Me after watching the #Cats trailer: oh I need to go on Twitter now.
— Colleen Verbus (@ColleenNicole) July 18, 2019
Twitter right now be like pic.twitter.com/ogg19l4Uz1
— Ryan Nelson (@RyanJohnNelson) July 18, 2019
Normally my Twitter feed is entirely very sad political stuff and it still mostly is but today that’s sprinkled in with everyone being as traumatized by that Cats trailer as I was and it was a nice break
— Leanne Koch ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 (@LeanneFryingPan) July 19, 2019
it has been very refreshing to have junk like storming area 51 and the cats trailer to unite twitter in low stakes tomfoolery in these trying times
— 🐾🔪Sailor V Emma Houxbois🔪🐾 (@EmmaHouxbois) July 19, 2019
The Cats trailer has truly gifted us one of the best nights on Twitter since Cameron and #piggatepic.twitter.com/1huOvMqfEi
— Ryan Love △⃒⃘ (@RyanJL) July 18, 2019
Tom Hooper scrolling through Twitter rn pic.twitter.com/dcyeOwm350
— Will Kellogg (@Will_Kellogg) July 18, 2019
And it seems there’s only one thing people want now…
If all we get is ridiculous remakes for the rest of cinematic history then I DEMAND that someone makes a Starlight Express film. Get to it. 🚂🌟 https://t.co/tuUXTyFEeH
— coupon lady (@its_sammiejo) July 19, 2019
Starlight Express musical film adaptation when? I’m talking photorealistic cgi trains with human celebrities faces slapped on them singing and dancing pic.twitter.com/ZQ0hrRwCW1
— Positive Vibe Merchant (@Afroxpox) July 19, 2019
If you think Cats looks mental wait til you see Starlight Express, which is much the same except instead of CATS they’re SENTIENT TRAINS.
— Tracy King (@tkingdot) July 18, 2019
The #CatsMovie trailer has finally given me an idea of what a film of Starlight Express would look like. pic.twitter.com/UQru5ggXYw
— Nicola 🌸 (@Nicolatalkstuff) July 19, 2019
Obviously Cats looks horrible but it's making me morbidly curious about what disasters could be inflicted upon the world by a cgi-happy Starlight Express film 😬
— Roberta Seaport ⚓️ (@ambrotypes) July 19, 2019
A film of Starlight Express with the technology of #Cats would be the greatest body horror film since Tetsuo the Iron Man.
— Ian Weir (@gannjerrod) July 19, 2019
Love and support every deeply chaotic person tweeting requesting a Starlight Express film in the exact same creepy style
— H (@H_Bevs) July 18, 2019
Watch the Cats trailer above.