First Look at Bill Hader's Cat In the Hat Movie (Official)

Fans got a first look at Bill Hader's Cat in the Hat thanks to a sneak peek at the new animated movie. Hader, who is best known for his time on Saturday Night Live as well as the voice of Inside Out's Fear, will take on the iconic Dr. Seuss character in a new film adaptation of the beloved children's story from Warner Bros. 

Debuted as a part of Warner Bros. 2025 upfront, fans were given a taste of the new Cat in the Hat movie starring Bill Hader. The latest take on the iconic story looks slightly different from previous TV and movie versions of the characters, but that does not make the title any less exciting for fans. 

Reporter Brian Steinberg posted online the first look at Hader's Cat in the Hat character. Steinberg was in attendance at the Warner Bros. event and shared the first public image of the new movie's rollicking hero.

The image sees Hader's Cat standing in a neighborhood, grinning with glee, as a fire engine pulls up behind the character. 

The movie's animation style is completely different from any prior Cat in the Hat project. It sports a unique mix of 2D and 3D elements, with two-dimensional features present on a three-dimensional character model.

This isn't the first time that Hader has taken on the Cat in the Hat role, having previously played the character during a skit on Saturday Night Live.

The new Cat in the Hat movie was previously teased at CinemaCon 2025 (which The Direct was in attendance for), where Warner Bros. animation head Bill Damaschke teased a story that "expands the story way beyond the book."

Cat in the Hat will debut in theaters on March 6, 2026, with a stellar cast that includes Hader, along with Abbott Elementary creator Quinta Brunson, fellow SNL alum Bowen Yang, and MCU actress Xochitl Gomez. The film comes from Kung Fu Panda 3 director Alessandro Carloni, telling a "wonderfully whimsical" tale of the Cat, a mysterious bipedal feline who arrives to brighten the days of "happyless" children (via an official Warner Bros release).

How Does Bill Hader's Cat in the Hat Compare to Others?

For fans of the Cat in the Hat brand, this first look at Bill Hader's take on the character will almost surely be a shock. The look and feel of the new 2026 movie is unlike anything Cat in the Hat-related that has come before it. 

Since 1971, the Cat character has had a distinct 2D look, sporting a classic hand-drawn style akin to the cover of the beloved Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hat children's book. 

This traditional style has been maintained for years since the original 1970s cartoon series, which was translated into 2010's Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That. 

Fans' closest experience to a departure as significant as this from the house of Dr. Seuss style came in 2003 with the release of the first Cat in the Hat feature-length film.

The reason for this version of the characters' significant differences came mainly from the fact that it was a live-action take on the beloved children's story. This meant that instead of being animated, the live-action Cat (played by Shrek 5's Mike Myers) used heavy prosthetics, turning the Cat into a real-life character for the first time. 

With Bill Hader's newest version, Warner Bros. is innovating on everything that has come before, taking elements from every version of the Cat in the Hat story seen thus far. This creates a 3D version of the character (like Mike Myers' version) that still sports this storybook style made famous by the other animated versions of the Cat seen on TV and in film.