‘Josie and the Pussycats’ Was Decades Ahead of Its Time

“Willy Wonka or Josie and the Pussycats,” my best friend asks me. “Josie and the Pussycats,” I choose yet again. It’s 2002 in my best friend’s basement and we are 8-years-old. She owns two DVDs and we have to pick between them each time I come over. She always picks Willy Wonka, but the “Cheer Up, Charlie” song bums me out. My choice is always, and still would be, Josie. No shade to Wonka. J<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0236348/?ref_=ttsnd_ov" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">osie and the Pussycats</a> was released on April 11, 2001, to a resounding box office flop. For its estimated $40 million budget, its opening weekend churned in only $4 million. To this date, it doesn’t look like it’s even made back its budget, but it has built a cult following. This movie is sugar, spice, and everything a 2000s girl could wish for. Sparkles, metallic fabrics, cat ear headbands, and rock ‘n roll. Rachael Leigh Cook, Rosario Dawson, and Tara Reid are our pussycats. The iconic trio is paired with Alan Cumming, Parker Posey, Missi Pyle, Eugene Levy, and a billion other iconic comedic actors of the time. The movie is based on the <a href="https://archiecomics.fandom.com/wiki/Josie_and_the_Pussycats_(comics)" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Archie comics</a> and adapted for the screen by writing/directing pair Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont. <h2>SUBLIMINAL MESSAGING</h2> The girl band starts out rocking in a bowling alley and evolves into the center of a conspiracy to deliver subliminal messages through pop music to the youth of America. Compelling. But it missed the mark with 2001 audiences. In February 2001,<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=109838&page=1" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"> Britney Spears had just inked her endorsement deal with Pepsi</a> which would famously last until 2004. At the time, it was hype! This wasn’t the first notion of celebrity endorsement for products, but it would become one of the most famous. <a href="https://medium.com/seen-on-screen/josie-and-the-pussycats-was-decades-ahead-of-its-time-97655595fbc">Click Here</a>