Andrew Lloyd Webber hated the 'appalling' “Cats” movie so much that he bought a dog
Andrew Lloyd Webber hated the 'appalling' “Cats” movie so much that he bought a dog
Raechal ShewfeltWed, April 1, 2026 at 3:01 AM UTC
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'Cats' stars Francesca Hayward and Robbie FairchildCredit: Universal Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection
Andrew Lloyd Webber is still not a fan of the 2019 movie Cats, which is based on his musical.
"After the appalling Cats movie, I went out and bought myself a little Havanese puppy," he told Mo Rocca on the latest episode of CBS Sunday Morning. "It's my therapy dog on planes. I just write a note to the airline saying, you know, reason for dog on plane and put Cats movie. And they always come back saying, 'No doctor's certificate required.'"
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When Rocca pressed him on his specific complaints about the film, Webber had a clever response.
"Well, is this a very, very long interview we're doing?" Webber asked. "Because it could be a very, very long list."
Ouch.
Not that Webber, the man behind the stage show that debuted in London in 1981 and became a hit worldwide, ever appreciated the adaptation.
He explained in August 2020 that he was unhappy with the result, to say the least.
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Andrew Lloyd Webber in 2025Credit: Dave Benett/Getty
"The problem with the film was that [director] Tom Hooper decided, as he had with [Les Misérables] that he didn’t want anybody involved in it who was involved in the original show," Webber told the U.K's Sunday Times. "The whole thing was ridiculous.”
And in October 2021, he recounted the dog story, noting then that it was the first time he'd felt compelled to own a pooch in seven decades.
He certainly wasn't alone in disliking the movie version of Cats.
Despite its Oscar-winning director and an A-list cast that included Jennifer Hudson, Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Idris Elba, and noted cat-lover Taylor Swift, the movie was a box office dud.
Critics ripped it apart like a cat with a new set of curtains. It was deemed the worst movie of the year and a "cat-astrophe" that had left its stars "coughing up hairballs," among other things, according to Rotten Tomatoes. Overall, it received a rating of 19 percent based on 335 reviews.
The upside is that Cats really cleaned up at the infamous Razzies, where cast members including Rebel Wilson and James Corden, along with Hooper, won prizes.
A new version of the work, Cats: The Jellicle Ball, is now on Broadway.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
