Agents of D.O.G.

Agents of D.O.G. is a 2018 animated spy film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Jaydon Higgins and is based on the 2011 film, Cats & Dogs. It's first installment in the Agents of D.O.G. film series. The film centers of a young hybrid in his first year as a spy and learning about the truth about what happened to his parents. Higgins stated the film is a sequel/soft reboot to Cats & Dogs and is inspired by J. K. Rowling's Wizarding World, and Rita Christensen's Superhero World. The film is dedicated to Deacon Bob Killoren who died from a stroke. The film was released in 3D and IMAX on March 23, 2018 and received mixed to generally favorable reviews from critics and audiences, with some praising the acting, direction, screenplay, story, editing, music, and the cast's performance, but received some criticism for its tone and source material. Critics also said that the film brought the Cats & Dogs series back into the cinematic world while others said the franchise had ran it's course. Despite that, the film grossed more then $1 billion over a $110 million budget making it the first highest-grossed film in the Cats & Dogs film in the franchise.

Plot
Two dogs and their son walks down a street talking about if the young hybrid would become a spy like them, but decided to wait until he's older. Then a Khao Manne runs in holding a gun and kills the couple, after he shot their son, the Khao Manne gets his by a car. The young dog lays on the ground left with a bolt-shaped scar on his right eye, as the screen cuts to black. 11 years later, the young hybrid has somehow survived the gunshot and now grown up into a young adult. As he was walking, he sees a cat getting bullied by two other dogs, the hybrid (who's name's Gavin.) defends the cat. After the dogs ran away, the cat thanks him for saving her life before leaving. Gavin later bumps into an unusual dog who looks like an extinct species, an Alpha Spaniel who goes by the name Commander Gorden. After finding out that cats are the dog's arch-enemy, Gavin lied about saving the Wirehair's life, instead telling him je beat her up. Gorden was impress by it, he asked him if he wanted to be a spy, Gavin didn't knew what he was talking about, until they reached a mysterious portal. Gavin didn't knew what was gonna happen if he walked in there, but he did it anyways. After entering the portal, Gavin was surprised by what he saw: an alternate dimension that's made entirely out of dogs. The two then later walks into a strange looking building known as the D.O.G. Training Academy. Gavin runs to the front desk and meets Leslie, Gorden's fiancé. After getting signed up, Gavin leaves the front desk to go look at the rest of the Academy. As Gavin checks the rest of the place, he bumps into a Grey Wolf who goes by the name Wyatt, Gavin tried to apologize to him, but the Wolf didn't accepted it and threatened him before leaving. A few seconds later, Gavin started to have a flashback about his parents death, not knowing how it happened. Later in another Strange building, the Khao Manne in the beginning has somehow survived the hit by the car and didn't got a scratch. He gets an alert from his wife Geneva that Gavin is alive after not knowing he was, the Khao Manne who goes by the name Whiskers gets to working on his devious pot, as he laughs evilly, the screen cuts to black. Later at night, Gavin sneaked out some Tilapia for the American Wirehair, which was her favorite. After they chat, the cat told Gavin her name was Koko, and cause of that day the meet, Gavin knew she was his friend. On his first day at D.O.G., Gavin had beaten Wyatt at "paw-to-paw" combat, which impressed his teacher Percy. Jackie and Akira were surprised that Wyatt lost to him. Gavin meet and later became friends with a Goldendoodle named Murphy in the cafeteria. More Coming Soon.

Cast
Warwick Davis, Marcus Scribner, Akon, Daniela Bobadilla, Sarah Grey,, Aiden Gillen and others were cast as additional voices with some being spies in training, and others being Agents of M.E.O.W. Many characters from Cats & Dogs will be mentioned through-out the film.
 * Tobey Maguire as Gavin: a male German Shepherd/Alaskan Klee Kai mix, leader of the squad, the chosen one, and the main protagonist of the film. Like Harry Potter, he's an orphan, has a scar on his face, and is the chosen one, he's the only hybrid in the group. Unlike most dogs, Gavin isn't colorblind, and is inspired by Danny Gorden. He's been given a red collar.
 * Max Charles as young Gavin.
 * Joey King as Koko: a female American Wirehair who becomes friends with Gavin. She's the first ever cat to become a D.O.G. agent and the only female in the squad and is inspired by Rebecca Henry. She's been given a pink collar.
 * Nick Robinson as Wyatt: a male Grey Wolf, who's rivals with Gavin, then later becomes one of his friends and a member of the squad. Wyatt was separated by his parents and has joined D.O.G. before Gavin did and is inspired by Alec Gutzwiller. He's been given a blue collar.
 * Jason Dolley as Jackie, a male Golden Jackal and the athletic member of the squad, and he's friends with Akira. Jackie speaks in a Africa Accent since he's born in Africa and is inspired by Jaquille Short. He's been given a black collar.
 * Tyrel Jackson Williams as Akira: a male Arctic Fox and the brains of the squad, he's friends of Jackie. Unlike most Arctic foxes, he's raised in Japan, Tyrel had to learn Japanese to get the role and is inspired by Cory Berning. He's been given a yellow collar.
 * Justice Smith as Murphy: a male Goldendoodle and a friend of Gavin, despite not being a member of the squad, he helps them. Murphy has bad luck, due to him experiencing Murphy's law and is inspired by Higgins's Aunt's dog with the same name.
 * Ryan Drummond as Raymond: a male German Shepherd, Gavin's deceased Dad and one of Whisker's victims. Drummond was known for voicing Sonic the Hedgehog in the game series if the same name.
 * Elizabeth Perkins as Carly: a female Alaskan Klee Kai, Gavin's deceased Mom and of the Whisker's victims.
 * Rachael Taylor as Leslie: a female Hawaiian Poi Dog from a Parallel dimension, co-founder of D.O.G. and Gordon's best friend and fiancé. She comes from a universe where Extinct animals roam the world.
 * Brooke Timer as Geneva: a female Birman co-founder of M.E.O.W. and Whiskers' wife. Timer is known for portraying Dr. Catwoman in the Jane Hoop Elementary film series.
 * Logan Lerman as Percy: a male Coyote, co-founder of D.O.G., teacher of "Paw-to-Paw" combat, and Gordon's best friend. He was a friend of Raymond and Carly, before their deaths.
 * Jude Law as Spencer: a male Yorkshire Terrier and teacher of hacking. Though he wasn't a D.O.G.'s co-founder, he knew the skills of hacking.
 * Jason Foster as Andre: a male Abyssinian and a spy of M.E.O.W.
 * Phillip Glasser as Alec: a male Dalmatian and teacher of disguising. Alec was well known for disguising himself to look like other dogs.
 * Eddie Izzard as Greg: a male Asian cat, and a spy of M.E.O.W.
 * Adam Harrington as Ziggy: a male Akita and teacher of camouflaging: Ziggy is one of Gordon's friends before he was a spy.
 * Susan Sarandon as Olivia: a female Raccoon dog and teacher of self-defense, she has a crush on Spencer.
 * Juliette Danielle as Marissa: a female White Shepherd and nurse of the D.O.G. Training Academy. She's friends of Leslie before she joined.
 * Tom Butler as Commander Gordon: a male Alpine Spaniel who's the last of his species, founder of D.O.G., Leslie's best friend and mentor of the  squad. He doesn't trust cats, due to Whiskers killing his family, 'till Gavin befriend Koko. Gordon's name is a reference to Commissioner Gordon from Batman.
 * Sean Hayes as Whiskers: a male Khao Manee, Geneva's husband and the main antagonist. He killed Gavin's parents and is the reason Gordon's the last of his species. Hayes previously worked on Cats & Dogs as Mr. Tinkles.

Development
Jaydon Higgins created the story for the first film on late 2017. Stevin Spielberg was hired to direct the film, along with John Williams, who will compose the score. Michael Goldenberg was original hired to write the script, but was replaced by Jaydon Higgins, due to creative differences In October, 2017, the executive producers of Cats & Dogs, Brett O'Conner and Bruce Berman would help out as executives if the film along with Frank Marshall.

Logo
The film had different logos during pre-production. Higgins reviled that the film's title would be Agents of D.O.G.

Casting
James Franco was originally going to voice Gavin, the protagonist of the series, but left due to have trouble filming Arctic Justice: Thunder Squad. So he'll be replaced by fellow Spider-Man actor, Toby Maguire, who previously worked on Cats & Dogs as Lou. It was confirmed that Franco will return to portray Gavin's cousin. Weeks later, Joey King and Nick Robinson was cast as two of the four of Gavin's friends, Koko, a cat from the other side; and Wyatt, a grey wolf that didn't trust cats 'till later. Lastly, Jason Dolley and Tyrel Jackson Williams was cast as the dynamic duo and the other two of the five, Jackie, a golden jackal; and his friend, Akira, an Arctic fox from Japan. Later, Ryan Drummond, Elizabeth Perkins, Tom Butler, and Sean Hayes was cast in the film. 3 more characters where announced on February 8, 2018.

Filming
Production started on October 2, 2017 and ended January 7, 2018. Additional filming started on January 10, 2018 and ended February 10, 2018.

Post Production
Post Production was completed on February 6, 2018.

Soundtrack
The score was compose by John Williams, who's know for his work on Jurassic Park, Star Wars, the first three Harry Potter films and the Heroes Forever Series, the soundtrack was somehow released on ITunes February 9, 2018, but will be on CD February 19, 2018 along with unreleased tracks.

Release
The film will be released on March 23, 2018, one week before Best Friends Reunion, along with a U.S. premiere the day before.

Home Media
The film is expected to be release on Digital HD on June 12, 2018, and on DVD and Blu-Ray the next week.

Reception
The film received mixed reviews and had a Fresh 98% on rotten tomatoes based on 30 reviews, with an weighting average of 8.9/10, on Metacritic, the film weight average score of 98 of 100 based on 50 critics receiving generally favorable reviews, and on CenimaScore, audiences give the film had an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F- scale. A reporter from The New York Times stated "The film is a bit strange, but it had a bunch of clichés from other film franchise, but in the end the movie was great". Rebecca Hawkes from The Daily Telegraph stated "Agents of D.O.G. is almost like any other spy film, but with cats and dogs, but it was great". Some cast members and fans of Cats & Dogs also stated that the film revived the Cats & Dogs franchise.

Lawsuit
On March 20, about three days before the film's release, Jane Hoop Elementary author, Rita Christensen sued the film for copyright issues and plot similarities. The lawsuit is expected to go into court on June 22, 2018.

Box office
The film received over $100 thousand on opening weekend and received another $100 million the second week breaking a bunch of records.

Sequel
Prior to the film's release, Higgins confirmed that Agents of D.O.G. will have 8 films, but the sequel will happen depending on the odds. In February 11, 2018, it was confirmed that directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were attached to directing the second film. In Mid-February 2018, it was confirmed that the sequel will introduce five more characters, which will turn out to be fictional versions of dogs/cats from Higgins' childhood, and is expected to be released somewhere in early or mid-2019. It was later confirmed that the films of the series will release 6 months from each other, meaning that the film will be released on September 2018. On March 23, 2018, it was announced Spielberg will return to help with the sequel, but as an executive producer. On April 11, 2018, their's a rumor that Gavin might obtain his powers in the sequel. On April 20, 2018, after the success of the film, the sequel has started it's development. It was also announced that ParaNorman actor Jeff Garlin will make an appearance in the film as an undisclosed role.

Related Links
Agents of D.O.G. to be raited PG-13. Agents of D.O.G. at the IMDb Agents of D.O.G. at Rotten Tomatoes Agents of D.O.G. at Metacritic Agents of D.O.G. at CenimaScore