Warner Bros. Takes 'The Cat in the Hat' Into Three Roblox Games

Warner Bros. Pictures Animation has planted "The Cat in the Hat" inside three Roblox games with a combined 7 billion visits, three weeks before the film's Nov. 6 theatrical release. The studio shared details of the campaign with Marketing Dive.

The activation launched Oct. 19 and runs through Nov. 8. Players can engage with themed modules inside +1 Speed Keyboard Escape, +1 Kitten Keyboard Escape and Dreamville, and claim limited avatar items to drive repeat visits.

Warner Bros. built the campaign with Sawhorse, a media company specializing in user-generated content gaming experiences. The partnership is a proven one: the two collaborated on a 2024 Roblox promotion for "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" and a 2025 Fortnite activation around the horror film "Weapons."

What do players actually get?

In each experience, players team up with the titular cat to cause mischief. Across the three activations, they can unlock six film-inspired items designed for use with friends, including:

• a Thing Box that releases Thing 1 and Thing 3
• a Glitter Trumpet
• a Hat Cannon Launcher

The strategy is borrowed, not built from scratch. Rather than developing a unique game, Warner Bros. integrated its content into games that already have large, active audiences. The "Cat in the Hat" modules drop a dose of chaos into familiar settings, which matches the film's message of playfulness and spontaneity. That gives the studio reach without the cost and risk of building its own experience. The takeaway: meet players where they already are.

Why the timing matters

The animated feature arrives weeks before the holiday season, with Bill Hader as The Cat in the Hat alongside Xochitl Gomez, America Ferrera and Quinta Brunson. Thanksgiving weekend has become a major moviegoing window — in 2024, both AMC and Cinemark reported increased foot traffic on Black Friday.

Roblox's scale makes the platform hard to ignore. The platform counts 127 million daily average users, and over 80% of them access it via mobile devices, per a 2025 Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Nearly 30% of Roblox's revenue came from Robux, its in-platform currency, purchased through the Apple App Store, with another 15% from the Google Play Store.

Is Roblox becoming a standard media buy?

The numbers suggest it already is for studios. Roblox has become a go-to channel for marketers chasing young consumers, with its sandbox structure letting brands build immersive digital experiences. The platform has worked to make itself more brand-friendly, scaling rewarded video and third-party measurement offerings in 2025. In March, Roblox announced it will take a percentage of in-game brand deal revenue starting in 2027.

Warner Bros.'s 2024 "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" activation pointed at where these campaigns can go: it included a virtual Fandango box office where players bought real movie tickets inside Roblox. This time, Warner Bros. is selling chaos rather than tickets — but the same math applies. With a Nov. 6 release date and 7 billion visits of borrowed traffic, the campaign shows why UGC gaming integrations keep earning studio budgets.