Tom Hopper (The Danish Girl, Les Miserables) will be directing the film based on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit musical Cats. Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson, James Corden and Ian McKellen are set to star in the film, produced by Working Title and Universal Studios.
The original musical Cats is the fourth-longest-running show in Broadway history. It was also the longest show running on Broadway from 1997 to 2006 when it was surpassed by The Phantom of the Opera. Cats is also the sixth longest West End show and has been translated into 20 different languages.
The adapted movie will still follow the original musical, telling the story of a tribe of cats that call themselves “the Jellicles” and on one particular night, the cats need to choose a one of them to be reborn into a new life on the Heaviside Layer.
The production of Cats is expected to take place in Britain later this year. Lee Hall (Billy Elliot) has adapted the original musical, which itself was based on the T.S. Eliot novel Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.