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Much like a videogame, Cats is getting a patch for visual bugs

By Tim Augustin - on 26 Dec 2019, 12:36pm

Much like a videogame, Cats is getting a patch for visual bugs

Image source: Universal Pictures

Cats – the movie that really thought it stood a chance against Star Wars. 

On 20 December, the day the movie opened, Universal Pictures informed thousands of theatres that they were sending out an updated version of Cats with “some improved visual effects", according to The Hollywood Reporter’s copy of the memo

This is a virtually unheard of move in the movie industry, but not so much in the world of videogames. Many, many games launch with issues and receive what is known as a Day One Patch, which fixes many of the issues the game might have at launch.

In this case, the movie is getting an update due to a variety of graphical issues. For example, one Twitter user noted that Judi Dench’s very human hand is visible in one scene. Another reviewer from Gizmodo says they "saw a terrifying grey statue looming over a character, only for it to blink and realise it’s a woman who is a cat, but they coloured her and then forgot to add fur.” Oh, dear. 

Cats hasn’t been doing too well in the box office either, earning a measly US$10 million on a US$100 million budget. The film is destined to be a box office flop at this point, and having it open next to Star Wars was clearly a fatal mistake. 

If you haven’t read critics’ reviews of the film, they’re a total hoot. The Beat said:

Cats is the worst thing to happen to cats since dogs.

RTE Ireland said:

First off, full disclosure - I am not a cat person. Second off - after watching this frankly mortifying film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats, I'm not altogether sure I am a movie person anymore either.

Boston Globe simply said:

My eyes are burning. Oh God, my eyes.

So we’ll call it a mixed reception so far. 

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