The worst movie of the decade just hit Netflix

A movie that was dubbed the worst of the 2010s has just hit Netflix – when you see what it is, you won’t pick a fight. 

Just because a movie or series flops – both critically and commercially – doesn’t necessarily mean it will do the same on streaming. Especially when it comes to Netflix, where time and again we’ve seen failures enjoy a new lease of life and maintain a spot on the top 10 chart for weeks.

Just take a look at all of the certified “Rotten” movies such as The First Purge, The Single Moms Club, Force of Nature, Tammy, and The Snowman – they all enjoyed a resurgence when they dropped on the streamer.

But there are some titles so bad that even a Netflix release might not be enough to convince viewers to tune in – or they could end up traumatizing a whole new viewership pool. 

The worst movie of the decade just hit Netflix

In case you hadn’t guessed it already, we’re talking about Tom Hooper’s 2019 Broadway musical adaptation, Cats. Despite being hailed the “worst movie of the 2010s,” it arrived on Netflix on January 16. 

For the uninitiated, the Cats movie is based on the 1981 Broadway musical Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber. As well as being based on beloved IP, the cast list includes the likes of Taylor Swift, Jason Derulo, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellan, Rebel Wilson, Idris Elba, James Corden, and Judi Dench.

But when the film was released in December 2019, no one expected it to flop as hard as it did. At the box office, Cats made $75.5 million against an estimated production budget of around $95 million. It also earned just 19% from the critics and 53% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. 

What’s more, a few years back, analysis by SlotsOnlineCanada found Cats to be the worst movie of the 2010s. So what exactly went wrong? Well, aside from the fact that the narrative didn’t translate well from stage to screen, the visual effects – and the creative decision to create cat-like human characters with digital fur – thrust the film into uncanny valley territory. 

As said by The Hollywood Reporter at the time: “If you recoiled back then at the sight of British acting royalty with their faces stuck onto little furry bodies, or even just the jarring image of cats with human breasts, chances are you’ll still be covering your eyes and peering in a profoundly disturbed state through the gaps between your fingers at the finished film. At least until boredom sets in.”

Variety added: “From the first shot – of just such a blue moon, distressingly fake, flanked by poufy cat-shaped clouds – to the last, Cats hurts the eyes and, yes, the ears, as nearly all the musical numbers, including ‘Memory,’ have been twisted into campy, awards-grubbing cameos for big-name stars in bad-CG cat drag.”

Despite all of this, Netflix has added Cats to its library, with some subscribers baffled at the choice. Taking to X/Twitter, one wrote: “Wait they’re putting Cats on Netflix??” Another said: “lol Netflix’s description of Cats (2019) being ‘visually striking’ ya you can f*cking say that again.” A third added: “In case anyone wants to experience the second-hand embarrassment again… Cats is coming to Netflix on Tuesday.”

The question remains: will Cats hit the top 10 chart? Time will tell…