The only way I'll see a film of CATS is if it is live action, using real cats, and composed entirely of YouTube videos cleverly stitched together. How could T.S. Eliot possibly object?
Surprised this hasn't been brought up yet: concept art for an attempt at an animated film adaptation from the early 90s by Amblimation, Spielberg's animation studio that shut down in 1997.
I actually think a film version could work very well. The whole show is spectacle. A film can go so much further with special effects and locations and just commit to presenting these songs as wild as the original production. It could even have an anthology feel to it, presenting the different songs as self contained short films about the cats singing them, tying them to the junkyard as a framing device.
Now, I don't think Tom Hooper is the director to go with, but I don't particularly care for any of his work that I've seen (The King's Speech, Les Miserables, The Danish Girl). Who knows? Directors surprise you sometimes.
trentsketch said: "A film can go so much further with special effects and locations and just commit to presenting these songs as wild as the original production."
I agree, but as long as directors don't understand the non-literal purpose of the material, it is not going to work.