Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for both Cats and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Both Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Cats have similar divides between how well they were enjoyed by audiences and how well they were loved by film critics. What’s interesting is that despite Cats being a certified bomb, it was, like The Rise of Skywalker, far more satisfying to audiences than to critics, at least based on the ratings for both films on Rotten Tomatoes.
Cats currently ranks as 18% Rotten with critics but 57% Fresh with audiences. This is far worse than the current ratings for The Rise of Skywalker, which ranks 55% Rotten with critics but 86% Fresh with audiences. Still, it cannot be denied that despite Cats being largely panned, both movies were still better received by the common fan than the paid professional writers who review films.
There are two chief reasons for this, stemming from the things that Cats and Star Wars have in common — apart from a legacy spanning four decades. Both franchises have passionate groups of fans ready to praise anything associated with the brand. Both franchises also have a sizable army of trolls with a vested interest in seeing those same projects fail.
Both Cats & Star Wars Have A Rabid Fan Base
Whatever else may be said about them, it cannot be denied that both Star Wars and Cats were revolutionary. Both had a hand in increasing the scope of their respective mediums, with the stage musical Cats being recognized by theatre historians as the first megamusical and the Star Wars films revolutionizing cinematic special effects while paving the way for the modern Hollywood blockbuster. Cats also helped to popularize musical theater with the masses in much the same way that Star Wars helped science-fiction and science-fantasy break into the mainstream after decades as niche genres in film and literature.
The end result is that both franchises have inspired equally rabid followings. While Star Wars is undoubtedly the more wide-spread fandom, the theatre world is known for having fans who become hopelessly devoted to individual shows, performers and composers. Cats is one of the most popular shows of all time, with touring companies of the show still selling out theaters around the world nearly 40 years after it first opened in London’s West End.
They say that love is blind and that truism remains apt whether applied to the love of a franchise or romantic love. Many fans become so strongly invested in the hype of something connected to their love that they cannot believe that it is anything less than perfect. Given that, it is unsurprising that there are large groups of people who would have a positive opinion about the Cats film adaptation or The Rise of Skywalker regardless of the actual quality of the final product.
Both Cats & Star Wars Have A Lot of Trolls
“There are more than a few who see the Cats phenomenon as the theatrical equivalent of the rise of the megabudget Hollywood action film,” noted critic William Grimes in Jessica Sternfeld’s book The Megamusical. “For them, Cats is a soulless money machine.” Similar complaints have been leveled at the Star Wars pictures over the years and both franchises have a sizable number of anti-fans who crow happily at any bad news regarding the object of their hatred.
The divide in the Star Wars fandom in recent years has been well-documented, with portions of the fandom displeased by the most recent movies and doing all they can to destroy what they once loved. Others hold a personal grudge against The Last Jedi writer and director Rian Johnson, attacking him for his efforts to diversify the franchise by introducing more women into prominent roles in the series. Actress Kelly Marie Tran was forced off of her social media thanks to coordinated attacks by these trolls. Some theorize that, as they review-bombed The Last Jedi with negative reviews on various movie sites, these same trolls are now using positive reviews to boost the fan ratings of The Rise Of Skywalker, as another way to “prove” the inferiority of The Last Jedi.
Cats has inspired a similar level of ire among some theatre fans. There are some who blame Cats for modern professional theatre becoming focused on producing spectacles that will appeal to families and tourists over the the avant-garde works that were once a staple of Broadway. Others disliked Cats as a show because it was focused on style over substance; the show has no real plot but boasts fantastic costumes, make-up and music.
This loathing has been likewise focused upon the Cats film adaptation, yet there are even more reasons why the film has attracted so much ire. The film has drawn heat from those mocked the decision to replace the film’s famous costumes and make-up with CGI characters after the release of the first trailer. There also seem to be a sizable number of critics who dislike Taylor Swift as a performer and primed their poisoned pens to write about her audacity in recording an original song for the Cats movie or daring to act at all.
Despite Intense Scrutiny, The Fans Still Like It
The irony is that despite the best efforts of trolls to game the system and critics lamenting both the rise of special-effects driven cinema and spectacle-focused theatre, the fans’ love of these franchises continues unabated. Like The Grinch who tried to steal Christmas, they could not reach the hearts of the Whos down in Whoville and stop them from singing. However it came, it came just the same.
While there is some question as to how much audiences truly love The Rise of Skywalker compared to critics thanks to online votes being of questionable accuracy, the box office returns speak for themselves. Despite having a lower opening weekend than The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker easily won the weekend, earning $176 million domestically. While not as grand as other Disney properties this year, it is still one of the biggest film openings of the year.
Cats was nowhere near as successful as The Rise of Skywalker in their opening weekend, failing to make more than Jumanji: The Next Level or Frozen 2 and just barely beating Knives Out. Despite this, the reaction from fans of the original musical who saw the movie has been largely positive. This suggests that the critical response is largely irrelevant: people will continue to love what they love and pay no attention to the reviews or the haters on-line.
More: Cats’ Rerelease Is A Terrible Idea
