Dog Man Wiki
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This article or section contains spoilers. Read at your own risk!

This article is about the Dog Man movie. For the in-verse movie in the Dog Man book series, see Dog Man: The Major Motion Picture.


Not what you're looking for? See Dog Man (disambiguation).

Dog Man is an animated superhero-comedy film based off the book series of the same name that was produced by from DreamWorks Animation.[1] It was directed by Peter Hastings. The movie was released on January 31, 2025 in North America.[2]

Plot[]

A villainous orange cat named Petey constantly terrorizes OhKay City, and his latest scheme involves planting a bomb to destroy a building. Famed cop Officer Knight and his dog Greg arrive to defuse the bomb, but it explodes, severly injuring Knight's head and Greg's body. The duo are rushed to the hospital while Sarah is recording her news story, and they survive when the doctors decide to cut off Greg’s head and attach it to Knight’s body, becoming a dog-human hybrid called Dog Man.

When Knight’s 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. But Mayor is unimpressed that Petey keeps escaping, and now Dog Man's job is at stake. Petey’s latest scheme involves reviving a dead fish named Flippy, who was once a powerful telekinetic villain. However, after firing his butler, Petey realizes 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, Li'l Petey, is entirely innocent, much to Petey’s frustration. Petey tries to abandon Li'l Petey by playing the "new home" game, but Li'l Petey is soon adopted by Dog Man.

Petey soon finds a story written by Li'l Petey before he was abandoned. Stricken with remorse, Petey uses 80-HD to find Li'l Petey at Dog Man's house, takes him back (mostly to use as bait for Dog Man), and explains that his own father abused him when he was younger. Feeling sorry for Petey, Li'l Petey brings Petey’s father "Grampa" to his lair in hopes of reconciliation, but Grampa is still the same jerk as Petey described. Petey no longer yearns for Grampa's support and leaves with Li'l Petey to go and fight Dog Man.

However, Flippy is accidentally revived and soon wrecks havoc on the city by bringing buildings to life with "Living Spray". He soon comes across Dog Man and Petey’s fight and kidnaps Li'l Petey with his telekinesis before leaving. Forced to team up, Dog Man and Petey go to confront Flippy. Li'l Petey fights the buildings using 80-HD in Robo-Suit Mode, but Petey decides to sacrifice himself to save him, and the fish tries to use his telekinesis to drop Petey into a volcano. But Li'l Petey takes matters into his own hands and against all odds, manages to redeem Flippy by making him question his evil ways with a comic he made about him and Flippy. Flippy loses his "supa anger" but Petey nearly falls into the volcano. Dog Man uses Greg's old tennis ball as a projectile and aims it at Petey in Robo-Suit Mode, saving him. Petey is pardoned afterwards for being a do-gooder, but he believes he can't be good because of the evil path he takes.

Petey and Li'l Petey return to his secret lab when Grampa steals their stuff except for Li'l Petey's comics. The father-and-son duo walk to Dog Man's house, but Petey explains to his son that while the world has many problems, it can't be a horrible place because of your presence. At the end, Dog Man is visited by a reformed Petey at Li'l Petey’s request, and Petey gifts him a new tennis ball with Dog Man's name on it. The three share a howling moment, and the film ends with text reading "The End," just like in the original books.

Production[]

The film was announced by DreamWorks Animation on December 9, 2020, with Peter Hastings set to direct the film. Hastings is an executive producer from The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants, which is based from Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, an adaptation of the Captain Underpants book series.[1] DreamWorks stated from an article by Cartoon Brew on October 6, 2023 it is confirmed to release in 2025 and is animated at their partner studio, similar to Mikros Animation, who collaborated for the Captain Underpants movie. [3] Deadline announced on January 29, 2024 that the movie will be released on January 31, 2025, with Karen Foster serving as the producer.[2]

On September 17, 2024, DreamWorks posted the official trailer along with the poster of the movie.

Cast[]

Minor Roles[]

  • Laraine Newman - Scientist
  • Melissa Villaseñor - Realtor
  • Pearce Bunting - Cheesesteak Guy
  • Max Koch - Rocco
  • Jana ‎‎Schmieding - Janet
  • Kevin McCann - Grump
  • Percy Rustomji - Surfer
  • Brian 'Hoppy' Hopkins - Big Jim
  • Matthew 'Yung Gravy' Hauri - Mr. Whiskers
  • Karen Foster - Flippy's Robotic Voice
  • John Bentley - Living Spray Factory
  • Sonny Onorati - Radio Building
  • Warren Sroka - Apartment Building
  • Kimberly Baily - Gym
  • Skip Stellrecht - Ice Cream Building
  • Georgia Simon - Hospital
  • Cam Clarke - Indifferent Shop
  • Scott Menville - 3D Guy
  • Kelly Stables - Harold Hutchins

Crew[]

  • Director - Peter Hastings[1]
  • Producer - Karen Foster[2]
  • Storyboard Artist - Chris Heltzel[4]
  • Head of Story - Anthony Zierhut[4]
  • Production Designer - Nate Wragg
  • Production Supervisor - Kevin McCann[4]
  • Story Team - Jeremy Bernstein, Sayah Gold, Hanna Kim, Carden Scholin, Adam Rosette, Camryn Miller, Daria Khil, Marceline Tanguay[4]

Merchandise and Promotion[]

  • Scholastic re-released the first twelve Dog Man books (except Big Jim Begins) with a "Now a Major Motion Picture from DreamWorks" sticker to promote the movie.
  • Jakks Pacific and its costume division, Disguise produced toys and costumes based from the movie along with its book series.[5]
  • Abrams Books released The Art of DreamWorks Dog Man on December 10, 2024.
  • AMC Theatres gave away one of three mystery keychains by purchasing Dog Man in Dolby Cinema from January 30-31, 2025 until supplies last.[6]
  • Regal Cinemas revealed their Dog Man Collectibles, including Dog Man and Petey Plush Toys, 640z Popcorn Bucket and 160z Cup with Dog Man and Petey toppers.[7]
  • DreamWorks and Wetzel's Pretzels are collaborating for the Dog Man Movie promotion. They will serve three new menu items available for a limited time until March 2, 2025.[8][9]
  • DreamWorks partners with DNA My Dog, a Canadian company specialized in genetic testing and breed identification for Dogs for a DNA My Dog X Dog Man Sweepstakes. Contest participants in Canada will answer the question "What makes your dog a hero?" for a chance to win a private hometown screening of the Dog Man Movie, a Dog Man prize pack, and a DNA My Dog test of their choice. [10][11]

Release Dates[]

  • January 9, 2025 - Australia [RD 1], New Zealand [RD 2]
  • January 29, 2025 - France[RD 3]
  • January 30, 2025 - Hungary[RD 4], Italy[RD 5], Thailand[RD 6]
  • January 31, 2025 - United States[2], Spain[RD 7], Sweden [RD 8], India[RD 9]
  • February 7, 2025 - United Kingdom, Ireland
  • March 6, 2025 - Germany[RD 10]
  • April 16, 2025 - Philippines
  • April 25, 2025 - India

Note: Dates may change without prior notice.

Gallery[]

Trailers[]

Clips[]

Posters[]

Profiles[]

Others[]

Trivia[]

External Links[]

References[]

Main[]

Release Dates[]

Reception[]

Box Office[]

In the United States and Canada, Dog Man was released alongside Companion and Valiant One, it was projected to gross $20–30 million from 3,800 theaters in its opening weekend, with some estimates going as high as $40 million. It made $10.8 million on its first day, including an estimated $1.36 million from Thursday night previews. It debuted to $36 million, topping the box office. The opening was the second biggest for animated films released in January after DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016; $41.8 million) and the third consecutive box office-topping debut for DreamWorks after Kung Fu Panda 4 and The Wild Robot (both 2024). Exit polling indicated that 45% of attendees saw the film because it looked "fun" and "entertaining" and a third bought tickets because they were fans of the IP. Men accounted for 52% of the opening weekend audience, with those under 35 comprising 70% and premium large format screens contributing 22%.

Critical response[]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 78% of 60 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "Realizing Dav Pilkey's canine creation with a frenzied energy that never lets up, Dog Man will delight kids while throwing their parents a bone." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 64 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

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