The Cat in the Hat been adapted for various media, including theater, television, and film. The animated musical TV special premiered in 1971 and starred Allan Sherman as the Cat. In 2003, a live-action film adaptation was released, starring Mike Myers as the Cat. Boxoffice.com reports that the film grossed $133,960,541 worldwide on an estimated $109 million budget. In 2012, following the financial success of "The Lorax", the animated film adaptation of the Dr. Seuss book of the same name, Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment announced plans to produce a CGI adaptation of "The Cat in the Hat". Rob Lieber was set to write the
The Cat in the Hat about it. This is someone who delighted in the chaos of life, who delighted in the seeming insanity of the world around him." Ruth MacDonald asserts that the Cat's primary goal in the book is to create fun for the children. The Cat calls it "fun that is funny", which MacDonald distinguishes from the ordinary, serious fun that parents subject their children to. In an article titled "Was the Cat in the Hat Black?", Philip Nel draws connections between the Cat and stereotyped depictions of African-Americans, including minstrel shows, Geisel's own minstrel-inspired cartoons from early in his career, and the