The Cat in the Hat (also known as Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat) is a 2003 American fantasy comedy film directed by Bo Welch in his directorial debut and written by Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer. Based on Dr. Seuss's 1957 book of the same name, it was the second feature-length Dr. Seuss adaptation after How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000). The film stars Mike Myers in the title role with Alec Baldwin, Kelly Preston, Dakota Fanning, Spencer Breslin, Amy Hill, and Sean Hayes in supporting roles. Production on the film began in 1997 with Tim Allen originally cast in the title role. After Allen dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with The Santa Clause 2, the role went to Myers. Filming took place in California and lasted three months. As with the previous Dr. Seuss adaptation, many new characters and subplots were added to the story to bring it up to feature-length. Released on November 21, 2003 in the United States by Universal Pictures with DreamWorks Pictures handling international distribution, the film grossed $134 million against a budget of $109 million[2] and was universally panned by critics due to its screenplay, humor, lack of faithfulness to the source material and Myers' portrayal of the title character, but praised the music and production design, but thought the film to have nothing to do with The Cat in the Hat. It was overall considered one of the worst movies ever made.[3] Seuss's widow Audrey Geisel was also critical of the film and decided not to allow any further live-action adaptations of her husband's works, resulting in the cancellation of a sequel based on The Cat in the Hat Comes Back; all Dr. Seuss film adaptations have since been produced using computer animation.[4][3]