Everyone’s favorite top hat wearing feline is back in the new animated film, The Cat in the Hat. Starring Bill Hader voicing the title character, and directed by Alessandro Carloni and Erica Rivinoja, The Cat in the Hat is the first full-length feature film from the recently rebranded Warner Bros. Pictures Animation.
The first trailer for the film features a blend of art styles to reflect the various worlds. First, the Cat’s world is depicted in a beautifully whimsical style that looks inspired by hand-drawn art reminiscent of Studio Ghibli films. Later, the Cat steps into the “real world” that is made up of CGI animation. The blend of styles and tones is fascinating to watch even in the trailer. It looks similar to the approach that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse took in using the changing art as a story-telling device.
The voice cast is full of incredible talent alongside Hader, including Xochitl Gomez, Matt Berry, Quinta Brunson, and Paula Pell, and featuring Tiago Martinez, Giancarlo Esposito, America Ferrera, Bowen Yang, and Tituss Burgess.
In advance of the trailer’s release, I had the opportunity to attend a virtual trailer event where Warner Bros. Pictures Animation President Bill Damaschke, Bill Hader, and directors Alessandro Carloni and Erica Rivinoja discussed their upcoming film.
Damaschke talked about why it made sense for The Cat in the Hat to be the first film under the new studio’s banner, as it represents a balance of original ideas and beloved characters.
“[A]nimation’s always been like a cornerstone of Warner Bros., but in this this next chapter called Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, we’re really kind of like doubling down on that commitment to original stories, as well as really innovative takes on some of our beloved characters and worlds. And for The Cat in the Hat to be our first film just seems like the perfect, perfect project because it’s actually all of those things at the same time,” Damaschke said. “It’s a completely original take on a character that I think a lot of people have a connection to, but as kind of handled and brought to life by our filmmakers and by the very singular actor who plays the Cat. It just comes out in a way that’s bigger, better, more amazing, and more whimsical than you could ever imagine. We have a slate of great films that we’re curating, and I’m really excited about them. But The Cat in the Hat really is like the ambassador for everything that we’re trying to do. No one look, no one style, different types of stories, different types of characters. And I’m really super excited about this one being first.”
Damaschke’s description of The Cat in the Hat almost sounds like that of a shared universe with a cohesive visual language across a variety of projects. And while I certainly don’t expect to see the Cat appearing in another Warner Bros. Pictures Animation film, it is interesting to think about the ways that this film represents the creative goals of the studio.
For directors Alessandro Carloni and Erica Rivinoja, The Cat in the Hat was an opportunity to tell a story with a character that almost everyone is familiar with and has some kind of emotional attachment to.
“The Cat in the Hat is a very beloved character and he’s classic and iconic and everyone has a relationship to him because he’s really this sort of wish fulfillment character. We call him this agent of chaos,” Rivinoja said. “And it’s just sort of what every kid loves and wants is to just sort of have this day of craziness and chaos. And we really tried to bring in what people love about the original book, which is a cat shows up, everybody goes crazy and has fun.”
According to Carloni, who previously directed Kung Fu Panda 3, this film uses the book as a starting point and expands the world around the infamous Cat.
We kind of used the book more of a jumping point for us in the sense that the book became a question for us, which is – Is this cat really just out there to have a good time for himself and making a mess, or is there more to it?” Carloni said about their creative approach. “We look at the book and realize that at the end of the book, the kid seems to be a little more confident with himself. Could it be that the Cat is actually the greatest child psychologist? And so we basically used the book as our starting point, that’s how our movie starts, and then our movie becomes an expansion on that adventure. We decided to follow the Cat at the end of the book to find out where does this guy go and discover, in fact, the truth about him.”
Comedian and actor Bill Hader took on the task of bringing the Cat to life, a character he played once before as part of a SNL skit (of course that was an extremely different take). Hader first addressed that performance:
“The SNL thing was, they didn’t write that because I love Cat in the Hat. It was more like I think the writers were going through an issue in their marriage and decided to use The Cat in the Hat as a way of indirectly commenting to their spouse at home, I think is what was happening,” Hader said jokingly.
More sincerely, Hader shared that he “chased” this project because of his love of books and the source material and the connection he had to the book as a child.
“I think the biggest thing was just, I just remember those being the first book. I’m a big reader and I think those were the first books I remember reading on my own and just taking into, you know, it’s a habit I had, I get in bed and you read a book,” Hader said. “And it’s like I started that with those books. I remember collecting them. I had, you know, seeing the binding [on] that side and just having those all up [in] my room. So yeah, that’s like the beginning of that process as a kid.”
Watch the full trailer below. The Cat in the Hat releases February 27, 2026 in theaters!
About The Cat in the Hat:
Meet the Cat in the Hat you don’t know! In the wonderfully whimsical tradition of Dr. Seuss, The Cat in the Hat comes to the big screen in his animated theatrical feature film debut, an all-new, epic adventure with an edge, where mischief, magic and mayhem reign supreme. Doing what he does best, the Cat—voiced by Bill Hader—spreads joy to kids in his hilarious, signature and singularly irreverent way, transporting them and audiences on a fantastical journey through a world they’ve never seen before.
In the film, our hero takes on his toughest assignment yet for the I.I.I.I. (Institute for the Institution of Imagination and Inspiration, LLC): to cheer Gabby and Sebastian, a pair of siblings struggling with their move to a new town. Known for taking things too far, this could be this agent of chaos’s last chance to prove himself…or lose his magical hat!
Starring alongside Hader are Xochitl Gomez, Matt Berry, Quinta Brunson, and Paula Pell, and featuring Tiago Martinez, Giancarlo Esposito, America Ferrera, Bowen Yang, and Tituss Burgess.
Directed by Alessandro Carloni and Erica Rivinoja, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation’s first full-length feature film, The Cat in the Hat, comes to theaters and IMAX® across North America on February 27, 2026, and internationally beginning 25 February 2026. It will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Ron is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of POC Culture. Â He is a big believer in the power and impact of pop culture and the importance of representation in media.
