Cats' furry stars up for Razzie awards

Dame Judi Dench (above) received a Razzie acting nomination for her role in Cats, along with James Corden, Rebel Wilson and Francesca Hayward.
Dame Judi Dench (above) received a Razzie acting nomination for her role in Cats, along with James Corden, Rebel Wilson and Francesca Hayward. PHOTO: UNIVERSAL PICTURES

LOS ANGELES • The widely panned movie musical Cats and four of its stars were nominated last Saturday for the Razzie Awards, an annual ritual that lampoons the worst of cinema.

James Corden, Judi Dench, Rebel Wilson and Francesca Hayward received Razzie acting nominations for their Cats roles, in which they were costumed in digitally created fur.

Oscar winner Dench was singled out for "looking suspiciously similar to The Cowardly Lion from Wizard Of Oz", the organisers said in a statement announcing this year's nominees.

Overall, Cats was given eight Razzie nominations, tying for the lead with Tyler Perry's A Madea Family Funeral and Sylvester Stallone's Rambo: Last Blood.

All three movies are in the running for Worst Picture, alongside psychological thriller The Fanatic and horror flick The Haunting Of Sharon Tate.

Cats, an adaptation of the popular Broadway musical of the same name, was released in December and drew widespread ridicule from film critics.

The US$95 million (S$132 million) production flopped at the box office, taking in just US$69.7 million at theatres worldwide, according to website Box Office Mojo.

The tongue-in-cheek Razzies, or Golden Raspberry Awards, was created in 1980 and served as an antidote to Hollywood's glitzy Academy Awards ceremony.

Nominees were announced a day before the bestowing of the Oscars, the highest honours in the movie industry.

Actor John Travolta received two Razzie nominations this year for The Fanatic and Trading Paint, as did actress Anne Hathaway for The Hustle and Serenity. Her Serenity co-star Matthew McConaughey was also named.

The Worst Screen Combo category piled on Cats with a nomination for "any two half-feline/half-human hairballs".

It was not all bad news.

Eddie Murphy was nominated for the Razzie Redeemer Award for his role in Dolemite Is My Name, along with Jennifer Lopez in Hustlers, Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems and Will Smith in Aladdin.

The redeemer award goes to a past Razzie nominee or winner who has recently earned acclaim.

Razzie nominees and winners are voted for online by about 1,000 Razzie members from more than two dozen countries who pay a US$40 membership fee.

Organisers have not unveiled a date for the announcement of the winners.

REUTERS

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 10, 2020, with the headline Cats' furry stars up for Razzie awards. Subscribe