If anyone thought the Sunset Blvd adaptation was actually going to be happening, they were either delusional or just unfamiliar with how Hollywood PR machines work. The failure of Cats had nothing to do with it, and failure was its narrative from the first trailer.
The film should be so lucky to eventually garner a cult following. It may, in the same way that weirdo flops like Repo! The Genetic Opera did, or in the same way that total disasters like Plan 9 from Outer Space did. But that's very niche and takes years to actually develop.
The film came in 8th at the box office on Christmas Day, behind movies that had been out for weeks like Frozen 2 and Knives Out and the prickly, uncomfortable, not-holiday-family-fare Uncut Gems. With zero chance at any sort of awards momentum and the prospect of it gaining legs through word of mouth looking bleak, I suspect theaters will start dropping it entirely very soon.
I thought it was a bad movie not because- or not just because- of unfinished special effects, nor because of its source material (which I think works onstage). I thought it was bad because it was helmed by a literal-minded director with no sense of how to direct or shoot musical sequences and a shocking lack of taste. Cats onstage is many things, but tacky and tasteless aren't some of them. Hooper was not able to translate what made Cats work as a stage piece- the thrill of seeing it live- into the comparable magic of a different medium.
So, sure, fix the fur and the hands and the lighting and the unrendered CGI. But you'll still have Rebel Wilson eating humanoid cockroaches and scratching her crotch, JHud flying into the sky on a chandelier tied to a balloon, and Judi Dench's digital leg behind her head and then later looking straight into the camera and delivering "The Ad-Dressing of Cats" with all of the solemnity and importance of a Shakespearean soliloquy.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
