Pixar's been on a roll with its creative marketing lately, from the Hoppers live cam to the long tease for the Taylor Swift Toy Story 5 song. Now it's at it again for the upcoming animated movie Gatto, putting a playful twist on digital content trends by combining two of social media's favourite things: reactions videos and cats.
In a comic take on the ubiquitous videos in which YouTubers film themselves supposedly reacting live to trailers, Pixar showed the Gatto trailer to a cast of feline stars. And they seem suitably uninterested.
While they're sometimes criticised as derivative, reaction videos have become a strangely captivating staple of YouTube content. Pixar turns the trend on its head, encouraging cats to watch the Gatto trailer on laptops only for them to predictably get distracted by just about anything else, much like the on-screen characters.
The amusing feline overload is generating a lot of engagement for the upcoming movie, months before Gatto's release.
"The cats show more emotion than actual reaction channels," one person writes in the comments on YouTube. "The only movie reaction worth watching," someone else comments.
The video has inspired viewers to test out the trailer on their own pusses. "I showed Gatto to my cat. She just said 'Meow' so I think she liked it," one person says.
Others have just been inspired to share anecdotes about their pets. "My cat used to be afraid of David Attenboroughs voice, and the dinosaurs on prehistoric planet. He's gotten used to it, as I watch some shows with him on it like every week," one person writes.
With Toy Story 5 getting mixed reviews, it feels like Pixar needs to shake things up with something fresh. Gatto could be just what it needed. It will be the Disney-owned studio's first film to depart from the 3D art style that it popularised, instead using a refined 2D CG look.
Gatto will tell the story of Nero, a black cat living in Venice, Italy, who begins to question whether he's living the life he wants. The trailer also introduces us to mobster Rocco as he and Nero interrogate a fellow moggie over the disappearance of some tuna before they get distracted by a light bulb.
Despite the different art style, The Pixar formula still seems to be there, with strong character design, playful humour and some elite voice acting from Mark Ruffalo and Laurence Fishburne. We just have to hope it impresses human viewers more than it does cats.
Gatto is due for release on 5 March 2027. For more animation news don't miss the controversy over Disney's Hexed trailer.
