Warner Bros’ Long-Delayed Cat In The Hat Movie Sputters In Box Office Debut

Published Nov 7, 2026, 11:22 AM EST

Brennan Klein (he/him) is a senior news writer at Screen Rant, host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, and contributor at Alternate Ending and Horror Press. He has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror movies) for over a decade at platforms including Blumhouse, Fangoria, Dread Central, The Backlot, and Arrow in the Head.

The Cat in the Hat is coughing up a hairball during its opening weekend.

2026's The Cat in the Hat is a new animated movie from Warner Bros. adapting the classic Dr. Seuss children's book of the same name. Bill Hader stars in the title opposite a voice cast that includes Quinta Brunson, Matt Berry, Bowen Yang, Xochitl Gomez, Paula Pell, Giancarlo Esposito, Titus Burgess, and America Ferrera. While the original plan was for the movie to debut in 2024, it was eventually set to debut on March 6, 2026, before being delayed by an additional eight months (reportedly to avoid conflict with Pixar's Hoppers), finally debuting on November 6.

Per Deadline, as of Saturday morning, The Cat in the Hat is projected to earn a 3-day gross of roughly $20 million at the domestic box office by the end of its opening weekend. This isn't enough for it to debut at No. 1, as it is being crushed by the new kaiju movie Godzilla Minus Zero (in spite of the fact that the Godzilla movie has more limited prospects by virtue of being a foreign-language movie and being rated R as opposed to PG), landing at No. 2 instead.

While this will be enough for it to beat fellow new releases Drummer Boy, Ramayana: Rise of the Legend, and Wild Horse Nine, The Cat in the Hat's domestic debut is very mild compared to many other 2026 animated movies. It pales in comparison to the domestic debuts of smash hits such as Toy Story 5 ($159.7 million) and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($131.7 million), and it has also fallen behind many mid-tier titles, including Hoppers ($45.3 million), Minions & Monsters ($37 million), and GOAT ($27.2 million).

This does not necessarily mean that The Cat in the Hat will be a financial failure. Animated family movies tend to have slow-burn growth at the box office. However, its reported budget of $86 million could place its estimated break-even point as high as $215 million. That is a worldwide total that not all previous animated movies that debuted at this level have achieved. Below, see a breakdown of the performance of some of the most prominent animated titles that debuted in a similar range at the domestic box office:

Title	Domestic Debut	Worldwide Box Office
Flushed Away (2006)	$18.8 million	$178.3 million
The Nut Job (2014)	$19.4 million	$120.9 million
Wish (2023)	$19.7 million	$255 million
The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017)	$20.4 million	$123.8 million
Abominable (2019)	$20.6 million	$190.3 million
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)	$21 million	$325.3 million
Happy Feet Two (2011)	$21.2 million	$159.2 million
Storks (2016)	$21.3 million	$183.8 million
Turbo (2013)	$21.3 million	$282.6 million
Ice Age: Collision Course (2016)	$21.4 million	$408.7 million

While precedent shows that there is certainly a chance that the new movie can surpass $215 million worldwide by the end of its run, it may not be able to do so by such a degree that it earns the possible Cat in the Hat sequel teased over the course of the movie. It would need to follow in the footsteps of the movies attached to strong brand names like Disney (Wish, The Hunchback of Notre Dame) or 20th Century Studios' Ice Age.

The Cat in the Hat will need to achieve significant word-of-mouth growth, which is not a guarantee given the fact that it has earned a splat on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics giving it a disappointing 45%. So far, not enough audience members have weighed in to give it an official Popcornmeter score. However, the movie's CinemaScore of A shows that it could have a chance to resonate with a wide enough audience to build word of mouth.

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