Dog Man (film)
Dog Man | |
---|---|
Directed by | Peter Hastings |
Written by | Peter Hastings[1] |
Based on | Dog Man by Dav Pilkey |
Produced by | Karen Foster |
Starring | |
Edited by | Brian Hopkins |
Music by | Tom Howe |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 89 minutes[3] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Dog Man is a 2025 American animated superhero comedy film based on Dav Pilkey's children's graphic novel series Dog Man. Produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures, it is a spin-off and story within a story of Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017) and the second film in the Captain Underpants franchise. The film was written and directed by Peter Hastings, and stars the voices of Pete Davidson, Lil Rel Howery, Isla Fisher, Poppy Liu, Stephen Root, Billy Boyd and Ricky Gervais, with Hastings providing vocal effects for the titular character.
DreamWorks Animation announced a film adaptation of Dog Man in December 2020, with Hastings set to direct after his experience with Pilkey's works from The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants (2018–20). Karen Foster joined as a producer in January 2024, and the cast was announced that September.
Dog Man premiered at the 2025 edition of the Festival de l'Alpe d'Huez in Alpe d'Huez, France on January 15, 2025, and is scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on January 31.
Plot
A villainous orange cat named Petey constantly terrorizes OK City. One of his schemes involves planting a bomb to destroy a building. Famed cop Officer Knights and his dog Greg arrive to defuse the bomb, but it explodes and it puts Knight’s head and Greg’s body in complete injury. The duo survive when the doctors randomly decide to dismember Greg’s head and put it on Knights’ body, becoming a dog-human hybrid called Dog Man.
When Knights’ old home is sold off and his girlfriend dumps him, Dog Man is forced to stay at the police station, managed by a short-tempered chief. Dog Man manages to earn the city’s favor by repeatedly stopping Petey whenever he instigates one of his schemes, causing a non-stop rivalry between the two. Soon, Petey decides that he needs someone like him to defeat Dog Man and purchases a cloning machine to do the job, but his clone ends up being a small kitten due to Petey not reading all the directions given to him. The kitten, Lil Pete, is entirely innocent, much to Petey’s frustration and he eventually decides to abandon Lil Pete, who is found by a little girl, but said girl also abandons him when he innocently offends her. Lil Pete is soon adopted by Dog Man.
Petey’s latest scheme involves reviving a dead fish named Flippy, who was once a powerful villain with the ability of telekinesis. However, he soon finds a story written by Lil Pete before he abandoned him. Stricken with remorse, Petey finds Lil Pete with Dog Man, takes him back (mostly to use as bait for Dog Man), and explains to the kitten about how his own father abused him when he was younger. Feeling sorry for Petey, Lil Pete makes an impromptu visit to Petey’s father in hopes of reconciliation, but Petey’s father is still the same jerk as Petey described him, but Petey no longer yearns for his dad’s support and leaves with Lil Pete to go and fight Dog Man
However, Flippy accidentally gets reincarnated and soon lays waist to OK City by bringing a building to life. He soon comes across Dog Man and Petey’s fight and kidnaps Lil Pete before leaving. Forced to team up, Dog Man and Petey go to confront Flippy. After the battle, Lil Pete takes matters into his own hands and against all odds, manages to redeem Flippy by making him question his evil ways. The movie ends with Dog Man and a reformed Petey, alongside Lil Pete and the rest of their friends, joining the city in a celebration.
Voice cast
- Peter Hastings as the vocal effects of Dog Man, a hybrid between a dog and a police officer who was created as a result of a medical operation that fused an injured Officer Knight together with his pet dog, Greg. Keeping in line with the source material, Dog Man does not speak, although Hastings still provides his barks and expressions.[4]
- Hastings also provides the vocal effects of Greg, Officer Knight's dog whose head is used to create Dog Man.
- Pete Davidson as Petey, a quick-witted and arrogant orange cat who is Dog Man's archenemy and the self-proclaimed "world's most evilest cat".[5][6]
- Lucas Hopkins as Li'l Petey, a kind-hearted kitten clone of Petey and Dog Man's adopted son and sidekick.[4]
- Lil Rel Howery as Chief, the short-tempered police chief of the station Dog Man works at.[5][6]
- Isla Fisher as Sarah Hatoff, a news reporter.[6]
- Billy Boyd as Seamus, Sarah's cameraman.[6]
- Ricky Gervais as Flippy the Fish, a fish with telekinesis.[6]
- Stephen Root as Grampa, Petey's father.[6]
- Poppy Liu as Butler, Petey's assistant.[6]
Additionally, Laraine Newman, Melissa Villaseñor, Cheri Oteri, Kate Micucci, Maggie Wheeler, Pearce Bunting, Max Koch, and Rahnuma Panthaky have been cast in undisclosed roles.[7]
Production
Development
On December 9, 2020, DreamWorks Animation announced that a film based on the Captain Underpants spin-off graphic novel series Dog Man was in development, with Peter Hastings attached to direct after his experience with Dav Pilkey's works from The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants (2018–20).[8] On January 29, 2024, following the release date announcement, DreamWorks announced that Karen Foster would serve as producer.[9]
On September 17, 2024, with the release of the first trailer, Pete Davidson, Lil Rel Howery, Isla Fisher, Poppy Liu, Stephen Root, Billy Boyd, and Ricky Gervais were revealed to be part of the film's voice cast.[5][6]
Animation
On October 6, 2023, the film was confirmed to be released in 2025, while it was also confirmed that Dog Man and Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie would be animated entirely at partner studios (excluding Sony Pictures Imageworks who was named as the animation partner for The Bad Guys 2).[10]
Unlike Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017), which was animated by Mikros Image and Technicolor Animation Productions, the film's animation is handled by Jellyfish Pictures, who previously did the animation for DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019) and Spirit Untamed (2021), along with marketing custom animation for Trolls World Tour (2020) and providing additional production assets for The Boss Baby: Family Business (2021), The Bad Guys (2022), and Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024). Nate Wragg serves as production designer.[11]
Music
The film's score was composed by Tom Howe.[12]
Marketing
In May 2024, it was announced that Jakks Pacific and its costume division Disguise entered into a partnership with Dav Pilkey to make merchandise based on the Dog Man film along with the comic book series. A book featuring the art of the film was released on December 10, 2024, published by Abrams Books.[13] On September 17, 2024, the film's official trailer was released.[5][6]
Release
Dog Man had its world premiere during the 2025 edition of the Festival de l'Alpe d'Huez in Alpe d'Huez, France on January 15, 2025, and is scheduled to be released theatrically in the United States on January 31.[2][9] On January 24, 2025, a week before release, DreamWorks announced that the short film Little Lies and Alibis, a short connected to DWA's film The Bad Guys, would run before Dog Man in theaters; the film also serves as a promotional feature for DWA's following film, The Bad Guys 2, set to release on August 1 of that year.[citation needed]
As part of Universal's long-term deal with Netflix, the film will stream on Peacock for the first four months of the pay-TV window, before moving to Netflix for the next ten, and returning to Peacock for the remaining four.[14][15]
Reception
Box office
In the United States and Canada, Dog Man will be released alongside Companion and Valiant One, and is projected to gross $25–30 million in its opening weekend.[16]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 73% of 22 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.2/10.[17] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 60 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[18]
References
- ^ Dog Man | A Look Inside. YouTube. Universal Pictures. January 7, 2025. Event occurs at 00:14. Retrieved January 9, 2025.
- ^ a b "Programme - Festival de l'Alpe de Huez" (in French). Retrieved January 8, 2025.
- ^ "Dog Man (U)". British Board of Film Classification. December 24, 2024. Retrieved December 26, 2024.
- ^ a b @Dreamworks (December 4, 2024). "RINGGG! 📞 This SUPA SQUAD answered the call! Watch this paw-some 🐾 cast ROOOMBA into theaters January 31! 🎟️🔥" (Tweet). Retrieved December 5, 2024 – via Twitter.[non-primary source needed]
- ^ a b c d Maison, Jordan (September 17, 2024). "Meet Dog Man in First Trailer for Animated Film". Cinelinx. Retrieved September 17, 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Weiss, Josh (September 17, 2024). "Dog Man: Captain Underpants Spinoff Starring Pete Davidson Fetches First Tail-Wagging Trailer". SYFY Official Site. Retrieved September 17, 2024.
- ^ "Instagram".[non-primary source needed]
- ^ Milligan, Mercedes (December 9, 2020). "DreamWorks Developing Dav Pilkey's 'Dog Man' as Animated Feature". Animation Magazine.
- ^ a b Grobar, Matt (January 29, 2024). "'Dog Man' Movie Based On Books From 'Captain Underpants' Creator Set For 2025 Release From Universal And DWA". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 29, 2024.
- ^ Amidi, Amid (October 6, 2023). "Dreamworks Shifting Away From In-House Production In Los Angeles; Sony Imageworks Is A New Production Partner". Cartoon Brew. Archived from the original on November 20, 2023. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
- ^ Taylor, Drew (September 17, 2024). "'Dog Man' Director Explains the 'High-End Handmade' Visual Style of the 'Captain Underpants' Spinoff - Exclusive". TheWrap. Retrieved September 17, 2024.
- ^ Reporter, Film Music (October 1, 2024). "Tom Howe Scoring DreamWorks Animation's 'Dog Man'". Film Music Reporter. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
- ^ Foster, Elizabeth (May 14, 2024). "JAKKS Pacific Bites Into Upcoming Dog Man Movie From DreamWorks/Universal and Dav Pilkey's Global Bestselling Book Franchise for Toys and Costumes". Markets Insider. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
- ^ Hayes, Dade (December 9, 2021). "NBCUniversal's New Theatrical Window Scheme To Bring Films To Peacock After As Few As 45 Days Of Release". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 9, 2021. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
- ^ Moon, Mariella (July 14, 2021). "Netflix extends exclusive rights to Universal's animated films in the US". Engadget. Archived from the original on July 10, 2022. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
- ^ Rubin, Rebecca (January 29, 2025). "Box Office: 'Dog Man' Chases $30 Million Opening Weekend, Sci-Fi Thriller 'Companion' Targets $10 Million". Variety. Retrieved January 30, 2025.
- ^ "Dog Man". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
- ^ "Dog Man". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
External links
- 2025 films
- 2025 3D films
- 2025 American animated films
- 2025 computer-animated films
- 2020s children's adventure films
- 2020s superhero comedy films
- 3D animated films
- American 3D films
- American superhero comedy films
- American children's animated adventure films
- Animated films about talking animals
- Animated films based on American novels
- Animated films based on children's books
- Animated superhero comedy films
- DreamWorks Animation animated films
- Films scored by Tom Howe (musician)
- Film spin-offs
- Universal Pictures animated films
- Universal Pictures films
- 2020s English-language films