Topline
Ariana Grande will reunite with “Wicked” filmmaker Jon M. Chu to star alongside Josh Gad in the film adaptation of Dr. Seuss’s “Oh, The Places You’ll Go,” Warner Bros. announced Tuesday as two new films prepare to join the $1 billion Seuss movie franchise.
Ariana Grande attends the 97th Annual Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 2, 2025.
Key Facts
Grande and Gad, who also voiced Olaf in the “Frozen” films, will bring the 1990 book to life in an IMAX movie slated for release in 2028.
“Oh, The Places You’ll Go,” which follows a young protagonist venturing into the world to navigate a series of life’s ups and downs, will be turned into a musical on screen with original songs by duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who also wrote for “La La Land” and “The Greatest Showman.”
“Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” was the last Dr. Seuss book published in the author’s lifetime.
The film is set to be released two years after a new animated adaptation of “The Cat in the Hat” starring Bill Hader, which has a February 2026 release date.
“The Cat in the Hat” will be the first new Seuss film since 2018, when Universal released an animated CGI adaptation of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” called “The Grinch.”
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Key Background
Five films based on the work of Dr. Suess were released between 2000 and 2018. Together they’ve grossed a combined $1 billion domestically. “The Grinch” and 2000’s “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” made more than $500 million combined at the box office as the franchise’s most successful films. “The Lorax” (2012) tripled its $70 million budget to gross $214.2 million and “Horton Hears a Who!” (2008) grossed $154.5 million on an $85 million budget. The only Seuss film to not recoup its production budget at the box office was Mike Myers’ “The Cat in the Hat,” which grossed $101.1 million on a $109 million budget. There have been a dozen Dr. Seuss television specials and six shows based on the books, including a Netflix series called “Green Eggs and Ham.”
Surprising Fact
“How the Grinch Stole Christmas” won an Oscar. Rick Baker and Gail Ryan won the award for best makeup in 2001. The film’s star, Jim Carey, has spoken about the intense process he endured to get made up for the film, and in 2014 told Graham Norton it took eight hours to apply his makeup and prosthetics. He likened the process to being “buried alive” and said the studio brought in an expert who’d trained CIA operatives in dow to deal with torture during an interrogation to help him manage.
Tangent
Theodor Geisel, who died in 1991, published more than 60 books in his life under the pen name Dr. Seuss. He also illustrated 45 books and many are considered children’s classics, including “Green Eggs and Ham,” “The Cat in the Hat” and “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.” Two years after his death, Geisel’s wife Audrey founded the entertainment company Seuss Enterprises, which controls the licensing for all of his work. In 2020, almost 30 years after his death, Geisel was ranked No. 2 on Forbes’ list of the Highest-Paid Dead Celebrities, having made $33 million before taxes that year. Seuss Enterprises inked seven-figure deals with Warner Bros. for the films and is set to make more depending on box office performance. The company has also added a handful of licensing deals to its repertoire, including Billabong hats and towels, a Carnival Cruise partnership called Seuss at Sea and a traveling exhibition.