‘The Cat in the Hat’ trailer reveals backstory for the Dr. Seuss character

It is fun to have fun, but you have to know how!

Good thing the Cat in the Hat is returning to the big screen to remind us all how to have fun. The trailer for The Cat in the Hat, which hits theaters on Feb. 27, 2026, dropped on Tuesday morning, showcasing our first glimpse of the new animated world of Dr. Seuss.

With Bill Hader voicing the Cat, the new film expands the story of Dr. Seuss’ beloved character, taking us into his world and riffing on the notion that showing children how to have fun and grow their confidence is actually his vocation.

“We discover that entertaining children and sad kids on a rainy day is his job,” explained co-writer and co-director Alessandro Carloni in a press conference. “There’s a whole corporation.”

As we see in the trailer, even though the Cat gets pepper-sprayed by his new charges, he is relentless in his attempts to do his job. Along with him are also the Things, and here, it’s not just Thing One and Thing Two, but also many, many Things — all the way up to Thing 13!

“We used the book more as a jumping point for us,” said Carloni. “The book became a question for us, which is, ‘Is this cat really just out there to have a good time for himself and making a mess, or is there more to it?’ We looked at the book and realized that at the end of the book, the kid seems to be a little more confident with himself. Could it be that the cat is actually the greatest child psychologist?”

This film will mark the first time the Cat in the Hat gets his own full-length animated feature, and it has been conceived as a major calling card for a new era of Warner Bros. Animation.

“It’s a completely original take on a character that a lot of people have a connection to,” said Bill Damaschke, president of Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, “but as handled and brought to life by our filmmakers and by the very singular actor who plays the cat, it just comes out in a way that’s bigger, better, more amazing, and more whimsical than you could ever imagine.”

Hader, who previously played the Cat in the Hat in a Saturday Night Live sketch, said that he actively pursued the filmmakers to be considered for the voice of the cat. “Like everybody, I remember reading that book as a kid, and then reading it to my kids,” Hader said. “And then, you know, I’ve worked with [Alessandro Carloni and Erica Rivinoja] before on different projects. The combination of these two and the chance to play such an iconic character was [too exciting], so I did chase it.

“I’m a big reader and those were the first books I remember reading on my own,” added Hader. “It’s a habit of mine where I get in bed and read a book, and I started that with those books, and I remember collecting them and having those books up in my room.”

As glimpsed in the trailer, the film also employs three distinct animation styles — a more whimsical approach for the Cat in the Hat’s world, a more grounded approach for the real world, and a third world comprised of children’s memories.

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“The unique thing about this movie is that you get to see multiple movies in one, in a way,” noted Carloni. “Because we truly traverse different universes, and we try to put that on screen as an adventure as we traverse different realms and environments.”

The film also features the voice talents of Quinta Brunson, Bowen Yang, Xochitl Gomez, Paula Pell, and Matt Berry.

The Cat in the Hat was previously adapted as a 2003 live-action film starring another SNL alum, Mike Myers, as the mischievous feline.

Watch the trailer above for more.