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For the first time in 2025, the box office is going to have some sort of pulse as Universal’s DreamWorks Animation title Dog Man is set to send families back into theaters after 2024’s holiday Mufasa-Wicked juggernaut with an opening in excess of $20 million-plus.
Booked at 3,800 theaters, Dog Man is based on the Dav Pilkey Scholastic graphic novels that have sold more than 60 million copies and have been translated into 47 languages. He’s also the author behind the Captain Underpants books; that brand was adapted into a 2017 20th Century Fox movie that opened to $23.8M and legged out to $73.9M stateside.
In Dog Man, after a faithful police dog and his human police officer owner are injured together on the job, a harebrained but life-saving surgery fuses them together and Dog Man is born. Dog Man is sworn to protect and serve — and fetch, sit and roll over. As Dog Man embraces his new identity and strives to impress his Chief (Lil Rel Howery, Get Out, Free Guy), he must stop the pretty evil plots of feline supervillain Petey the Cat (Pete Davidson; Saturday Night Live, The King of Staten Island). Petey’s latest plan is to clone himself, creating the kitten Lil Petey, to double his ability to do crime stuff. Things get complicated, though, when Lil Petey forges an unexpected bond with Dog Man.
Emmy winner Peter Hastings directs. The film is produced by Karen Foster (Spirit Untamed), who served as co-producer on DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon.
Currently, Dog Man aimed at young boys and girls and is tracking ala Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie ($22.7M opening) and DC League of Super Pets ($23M). Previews start Thursday at 2 p.m.
‘Companion‘
New Line Cinema
Also hitting theaters is New Line’s horror movie Companion from BoulderLight Pictures, the producers behind the micro horror hit Barbarian. The R-rated $10M production written and directed by Drew Hancock (scribe of TV series Suburgatory) has a $29M P&A spend and is expected to do between $8M-$10M, with a chance for upside based on its great 92% Rotten Tomatoes critics score. Previews start Thursday at 3 p.m.
Starring Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid and Harvey Guillén, the pic follows an enigmatic young woman, Iris, who creates havoc for her friends during a weekend trip to a lakeside estate. To say any more would spoil the twists and turns of the movie. Pic is booked at 3,200 locations and will play in Imax, Dolby Cinema, PLFs, dine-ins and drive-ins. Of those who are planning to pay to see Companion on the big screen, it’s men and women under 35, per Quorum. We’ll see if this film catches any heat.
Briarcliff Entertainment also has the U.S. military movie about the North Korea conflict. Valiant One, from director Steve Barnett, in 1,500 locations.
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