Academy Allows ‘Cats’ to Submit Its New, Improved Version to Oscars

Between the scalding reviews and the tepid box-office figures, this has not been a good week for “Cats.”But we do have one piece of good news for Tom Hooper’s catastrophic feline musical, courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: Oscar voters will be able to judge the improved version of the film that is currently playing in theaters after its unfinished visual effects were replaced with new VFX following the film’s opening on Friday.Typically, the Academy’s rules and regulations compel a film to compete with the same version used in its qualifying run in Los Angeles.

In fact, a rule specifically prohibits making changes from that initial version:“The alteration of an achievement by changing a picture from the version shown in Los Angeles County, upon which eligibility is based, shall subject such achievement to the risk of being declared ineligible by the Board of Governors.

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