Taylor Swift’s “So-Bad-It’s-Good” 2019 Movie Is on IMDb’s Infamous “Worst 100 of All Time” List
A major film released in 2019 featuring an ensemble cast of celebrated actors and musicians has found a unique place in cinematic history. The movie, which brought a long-running and globally successful stage production to the big screen, has become a permanent fixture on a list that no filmmaker wants to be on. The ambitious project, intended to be a holiday blockbuster, instead became a topic of widespread discussion for all the wrong reasons.
The production was notable for its heavy reliance on visual effects to transform its well-known cast into animal characters. This technical aspect, heavily promoted before the film’s release, became one of the most talked-about elements upon its debut.
The director, an Academy Award winner, took a bold approach to adapting the beloved but structurally unconventional source material. However, this vision did not resonate with the majority of viewers or critics, leading to a box office performance that fell significantly short of expectations and a critical reception that was overwhelmingly negative.
The film that has earned this notoriety is “Cats,” the 2019 musical fantasy directed by Tom Hooper. As of mid-2025, the movie holds a firm position on IMDb’s “Bottom 100” list, a ranking of the lowest-rated feature films on the platform as voted by users.
To even qualify for this list, a film must have a substantial number of votes, ensuring that the ranking reflects a broad consensus of audience opinion rather than a niche sentiment. “Cats” currently sits among the most poorly-received films ever made, a status it achieved shortly after its release and has maintained since.
The movie is an adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1981 musical, which itself was based on T. S. Eliot’s 1939 poetry collection, “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.” The story revolves around a tribe of cats known as the Jellicles who, over a single night, decide which one of them will ascend to the “Heaviside Layer” and be reborn.
The film’s cast included luminaries such as Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Jennifer Hudson, and Idris Elba, alongside pop stars like Jason Derulo and Taylor Swift.
A significant point of contention for both critics and audiences was the film’s visual style. The production employed what was termed “digital fur technology” to graft feline features onto the actors. The result was a cast of human-cat hybrids that many found unsettling.
The characters had human faces and hands, but were covered in computer-generated fur and had twitching tails and ears. This uncanny appearance was a frequent target of ridicule and became a defining feature of the film’s legacy.
Reports from visual effects artists who worked on the project later revealed a rushed and troubled production, with immense pressure to complete the complex effects under a tight deadline.
Taylor Swift’s role in the film was that of Bombalurina. Despite being heavily featured in the marketing, her screen time is limited to a single musical number, “Macavity,” which introduces the film’s villain. She also co-wrote a new song for the film with Andrew Lloyd Webber titled “Beautiful Ghosts.”
This song, performed primarily by the film’s protagonist Victoria (played by Francesca Hayward), received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song, a rare positive note in the film’s otherwise troubled reception. While the movie itself was widely panned, some critics noted that Swift’s brief performance was one of the few entertaining moments.
The financial performance of “Cats” was a significant story in itself. The film was produced with a budget estimated to be around $95 million. However, it grossed only $75.5 million worldwide, resulting in a substantial financial loss for the studio.
The release was also marred by the unusual decision to send an updated version of the film to theaters after its initial debut, which contained improved visual effects. This move was a tacit admission of the technical issues that plagued the initial release.
The film’s failure has become a case study in Hollywood. The combination of a perplexing visual style, a story that struggles to translate from stage to screen, and a general sense of bizarre execution led to its infamous status.
For many, “Cats” has become a cult classic of “so-bad-it’s-good” cinema, a movie to be watched with friends for a shared experience of disbelief and amusement. The legacy of “Cats” is a complex one, serving as a cautionary tale about the risks of ambitious adaptations and the unpredictable nature of audience reception.
What are your thoughts on “Cats”? Did you see it in theaters? Share your opinions in the comments below.
