Mike Myers' Cat in the Hat costume is up for auction, and it's the stuff of nightmares
The screen-worn Cat in the Hat costume from the 2003 Mike Myers film is up for auction at Propstore, bidding from $6,000. Photos of the aged, weathered suit have the internet reacting with horror: “BURN IT.”
The original Cat in the Hat costume that Mike Myers wore in the 2003 movie is up for auction, and up close, it looks less like a beloved children’s character and more like a cryptid someone found in an attic.
Propstore is auctioning the screen-used costume at its Los Angeles summer sale, with the live auction on August 26. Bidding starts at $6,000, and the house estimates it’ll sell for $12,000 to $24,000. The full lot includes the striped top hat, the synthetic-fur suit, the rubber mask with bow tie, and the gloves.
The suit itself has become the story, because two decades have not been kind to it.
Why the internet is horrified
Movie magic hid a lot in 2003. The auction photos hide nothing.
On screen, the Cat was an expressive, animated presence. Static and weathered under auction lighting, the aged fur, the frozen rubber face, and the exposed detailing read as deeply unsettling, and the internet noticed immediately. Reactions have ranged from flat demands to “B U R N I T“ to comparisons with horror-movie monsters, turning a mixed-reviews family film relic into fresh meme fodder.
It doesn’t help that The Cat in the Hat already had a slightly cursed reputation. The 2003 adaptation, also starring Dakota Fanning, Alec Baldwin, and Kelly Preston, was a box-office earner but a critical punching bag, and Dr. Seuss’s widow reportedly disliked it enough that no further live-action Seuss films were made for years. The costume looking like a horror prop is, in a way, on brand.
What you’re actually bidding on
For all the jokes, this is a legitimate piece of film history.
The costume is screen-matched and comes with Propstore’s certificate of authenticity, the suit reportedly labeled “Mike Myers #1.” Collectors of screen-worn wardrobe treat pieces like this as blue-chip memorabilia, and a lead costume from a recognizable studio film, however divisive, is exactly the kind of thing that draws real bids.
So somewhere out there, someone will pay five figures to own a slightly nightmarish piece of early-2000s Hollywood, and hang the Cat in the Hat, in all its weathered glory, somewhere in their home. Whether that’s a flex or a haunting depends entirely on the guest. Bidding’s open August 26. There can, mercifully, be only one.
Article compiled and edited by Derek Gibbs (entertainment editor) and the Clownfish TV newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Propstore (August 2026), verified for the Los Angeles Summer 2026 auction, Lot #76 being the Cat in the Hat costume, the August 26 sale, the costume components, and the certificate of authenticity
Complex (August 2026), verified for the $6,000 starting bid, the $12,000-24,000 estimate, the five-figure expectation, the “Mike Myers #1” labeling, the eerie up-close appearance, and the online reactions
X/social reaction (August 2026), attributed for the “BURN IT” and horror-character comparisons, presented as posts rather than verified consensus
Complex and Propstore (2003 background), verified for the 2003 film’s cast (Dakota Fanning, Alec Baldwin, Kelly Preston) and its status as a critically panned but commercially notable adaptation