Cats flops at US box office, opens to disastrous $6.5 million

Following dismal reviews and endless mockery on social media, Cats has flopped at the US and UK box office.

In the US, the Tom Hooper-directed musical grossed just $6.5m (£5m) in its opening weekend, ranking fourth after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Jumanji: The Next Level and Frozen 2.

Cats also bombed in its UK debut, where it grossed a dismal £4.4m.

The musical cost more than $100m (£77m) to produce before marketing costs.

Going into the weekend, Cats’ distributor Universal Pictures had anticipated the film to gross at least $15m (£12m) in the US.

Cats, which stars James Corden, Idris Elba and Taylor Swift, has already experienced a number of high-profile blunders since its release.

Universal this weekend sent a new version of the film to cinemas that had been updated with improved special effects. This included a fix of a scene in which actor Judi Dench, playing a cat, is seen with a human hand and still sporting Dench’s own wedding ring.

In a statement, Universal’s president of US distribution Jim Orr put on a brave face in regards to the box office.

“[The] audience will very much enjoy Tom Hooper’s take on this fantastical tale as Christmas and the holidays roll out,” Orr said. “He really did create something that’s visually very fun and entertaining.”

Hooper has not issued any public statement on the film since the unveiling of largely negative reviews, including one that compared the film to the grotesque horror movie The Human Centipede.