The team behind Warners’ upcoming The Cat in the Hat movie have defended the studio’s decision to shelve Coyote vs. Acme, saying that the episode should not “become representative of how painful and atrocious the industry can be.”
Speaking during a Work in Progression session at Annecy, Alessandro Carloni, who is co-writing and directing The Cat in the Hat, said he has landed six movie directing roles across his career and only finished two of them.
“It’s that kind of industry,” he added. “You have to go with the frustration. We are lucky to do art in our profession but we can’t lock ourselves in a basement and paint a painting. We get to do things that are huge and expensive and it is a business.”
Carloni was responding to a question about the shelving of Coyote vs. Acme, which took place in late 2023 leading to an estimated $30M write-down on the $70M production for the David Zaslav-led conglom.
While “some of us are unlucky to have lost projects,” Carloni warned against “one specific case” becoming “representative of how painful and atrocious the industry can be.”
Erica Rivinoja, who co-wrote and directed The Cat in the Hat with Carloni, pointed out that Coyote vs. Acme will in fact get a U.S. release following its sale to Ketchup Entertainment, which we revealed several weeks back.
Rivinoja said there is a very simple thing audiences can do to help avoid future cancellations. “Go to the movies,” she said. “Go to the big ones, go to the small ones, don’t just stream them.”
“AI is never going to be as f**ked up in the head as me”
Artificial intelligence and its dangers has been a hot button topic at this year’s Annecy and Rivinoja was unequivocal that The Cat in the Hat has not used the invasive tech in its creation.
“I feel like AI is never going to be as f**ked up in the head as me so I am not as worried about it coming up with our big ideas,” she joked. “We want to support our artists and support our humans.”
For Carloni, some of the “fascination” behind great animated content is to “enjoy and admire the person who created something beautiful.” “Part of our fascination is to enjoy intent as much as content,” he added. “Otherwise you have to think why we still have weightlifting in the Olympics when you can just use a forklift. Our joy comes from enjoying the human endeavor.”
The movie does use certain software in order to ensure that the rhymes of Dr Seuss’ famous feline creation are structured in iambic pentameter, Carloni explained.
The team talked a packed Annecy crowd through the making of the movie, which stars Bill Hader, Matt Berry and Quinta Brunson and is due for release next year, while showing a number of early-stage clips including one of the infamous ‘Things’.
The movie explores what happens at the end of the beloved 1957 Dr Seuss book, Carloni explained, once the cat goes home and visits his “outlandish office,” where he is given assignments.
“We looked back at the book and wondered why the children become more confident by the end of the books,” added Carloni. “Deep down, is [the cat] the greatest child psychologist of all time? The greatest emotional support animal?”
The movie is effectively set across three worlds – the cats, the children’s and the adventures they journey on – and the production team talked Annecy through the challenges behind making these worlds disparate while keeping to an all-encompassing tone.
The movie is due for release next year, 23 years after the previous adaptation starring Mike Myers and Alec Baldwin. The team were speaking at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
The post ‘The Cat In The Hat’ Team Defend Warners’ Decision To Shelve ‘Coyote Vs. Acme’: “We Are Lucky To Do Art In Our Profession But We Can’t Lock Ourselves In A Basement” appeared first on Deadline.
