Revealing CATS Featurette Check out the new CATS featurette! The film, directed by Tom Hooper (Les Misérables, The King’s Speech), stars Jennifer Hudson, James Corden, Taylor Swift, Jason Derulo, Idris Elba, Ian McKellen, Rebel Wilson, and Francesca Hayward. CATS will be released in theaters on December 20. A tribe of cats called the Jellicles must decide yearly which one will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new Jellicle life.