Well, it’s not quite the epic Arianna Grande/Cynthia Erivo press tour for Wicked, but Dog Man The Movie comes out this Friday, and the press tour includes creator Dav Pilkey and star Pete Davidson, who voices Petey the Cat in the animated film, released by Dreamworks Animation. 

While the idea of the Davidson/Pilkey duo conjures many exciting possibilities, sadly the two did not appear together on CBS This Morning, so no finger holding occurred. Davidson and director Pete Hastings chatted together with Davidson revealing his long standing Pilkey connection: 

“I’m a huge Dav Pilkey fan,” he said. “I grew up reading all the ‘Captain Underpants’ books. My mom got them for me. All the young kids in my family, they all read ‘Dog Man,’ they’re obsessed with ‘Dog Man.’ And then right around the time I started noticing that, we got the offer.”

But we can all hold space for another chance at a team-up: Pilkey and Davidson will appear together this Friday at the Empire State Building to preside over a building lighting! On Friday night the famed skyscraper will be lit up blue and yellow, Dog Man’s official colors. 

And that morning, Davidson and Pilkey will participate in a lighting ceremony at the ESB Observatory, flipping the switch on a model of the Empire State Building, and posing for photos throughout the building. A Scholastic hosted Dog Man pop-up will take place on the 86th Floor where Pilkey will sign and books, superhero capes and masks, and other official Dog Man products will be given away from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. to those with tickets for the building (while supplies last). 

While getting the world’s most beloved skyscraper to light up for you is a pretty big deal, other promos for Dog Man have been pretty lowkey. Maybe a kids movie in mid-winter isn’t a particularly hard sell, especially when it’s based on the most popular kids book being published: the Dog Man series has more than 60 million books in print, and has been translated into 47 languages. As we noted recently, the latest book Dog Man: Big Jim Begins, has been atop the bestseller charts since its release in December – with nearly 700,000 books sold according to Circana BookScan. 

I actually saw Dog Man last night but reviews are embargoed until Wednesday…between the late embargo and the release in a traditionally slow movie-going time, again, either the movie sells itself or there’s not much to sell. I think kids who like the books will like the movie, though. 

Dog Man is also an interesting example of “The Big Lie,” the idea that a comics must be turned into a movie to be successful. Obviously the Dog Man series has been selling millions of copies for nearly a decade, and did just fine without any movie to bring it a wider audience. Of course, the film creates a virtuous circle….more people will see it, and the books will sell, and the movie will be shown endlessly on streaming services and so on and so on. 

The film itself is directed by Emmy winner Hastings (The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness) and stars Lil Rel Howery, Isla Fisher, Poppy Liu, Emmy nominee Stephen Root, Billy Boyd and Emmy and Golden Globe winner Ricky Gervais, in addition to Davidson and newcomer Lucas Hopkins Calderon as L’il Petey. It opens nationwide this Friday.

Since I can’t review it yet, I’ll throw you a bone with this Dog Man gallery:

(from left) Mayor (Cheri Oteri) and Chief (Lil Rel Howery) in DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man, directed by Peter Hastings.
Petey (Pete Davidson) in DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man, directed by Peter Hastings.
(from left) Dog Man (Peter Hastings) and Realtor (Melissa Villaseñor) in DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man, directed by Peter Hastings.
Petey (Pete Davidson) in DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man directed by Peter Hastings.
(from left) Li’l Petey (Lucas Hopkins Calderon) and Dog Man (Peter Hastings) in DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man, directed by Peter Hastings.
Li’l Petey (Lucas Hopkins Calderon) in DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man, directed by Peter Hastings.
Petey (Pete Davidson) in DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man, directed by Peter Hastings.
Chief (Lil Rel Howery) in DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man directed by Peter Hastings.
Dog Man (Peter Hastings) in DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man, directed by Peter Hastings.
(from left) Dog Man (Peter Hastings), Doctor (Rahnuma Panthaky), Nurse (Maggie Wheeler) and Officer Knight (Peter Hastings) in DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man, directed by Peter Hastings.
Petey (Pete Davidson) in DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man, directed by Peter Hastings.
Dog Man (Peter Hastings) in DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man directed by Peter Hastings.
(from left) Seamus (Billy Boyd) and Sarah Hatoff (Isla Fisher) in DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man directed by Peter Hastings.
(from left) Petey (Pete Davidson) and Dog Man (Peter Hastings) in DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man, directed by Peter Hastings.
(from left) Petey (Pete Davidson) and Li’l Petey (Lucas Hopkins Calderon) in DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man, directed by Peter Hastings.
Dog Man (Peter Hastings) in DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man, directed by Peter Hastings.

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