The Cat in the Hat Kicks Off Warner Bros.’ Seussiverse With Bill Hader

After a string of release-date shuffles, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation’s The Cat in the Hat arrives in theaters on November 6, with Bill Hader voicing Dr. Seuss’s most famous troublemaker.

Erica Rivinoja and Alessandro Carloni directed and wrote the film, the first animated feature based on the 1957 book and the first entry in the studio’s planned Seussiverse with Dr. Seuss Enterprises.

The story

Here the Cat is an agent of the I.I.I.I., the Institute for the Institution of Imagination and Inspiration, and his boss is running out of patience. To keep the stripes on his hat, he takes on his hardest case yet: cheering up Gabby and Sebastian, siblings having a rough time after moving to a new town.

The voice cast

• Bill Hader as the Cat in the Hat;
• Xochitl Gomez as Gabby;
• Tiago Martinez as Sebastian;
• Matt Berry as Waffles;
• Giancarlo Esposito as Mr. Hoogeboom;
• Quinta Brunson as Sherri;
• America Ferrera as Carmen;
• Bowen Yang, Paula Pell and Tituss Burgess.

The production

Warner Bros. picked up the rights in 2018. DNEG Animation handled the animation, Daniela Mazzucato and Jared Stern produced, and the release date slid from 2025 to early 2026 before landing in November.

Lorne Balfe wrote the score, Fitz and Tim Minchin team up with Hader on the theme song, and Hilary Duff contributes the track “Catastrophe.” Theaters will pair the film with Daffy Season, the first theatrical Looney Tunes short in over a decade.

Release

The Cat in the Hat opens November 6.