The Secret Musical Life of Pets is a 2016 American computer adult animated musical comedy film produced by Quick Draw Animation, Blue Yonder Films, Point Grey Pictures, Illumination Entertainment, Quick Draw Productions, Happy Madison Productions, Dickhouse Productions, Gracie Films and Channel Awesome. It is directed by Yarrow Cheney, Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards, Tony Leech, Chris Renaud, Robert Rodriguez, Brad Silberling, Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon and Doug Walker and written by Allen Covert, Ken Daurio, Tom Gammill, Evan Goldberg, Kyle Hunter, Brian Lynch, Cinco Paul, Max Pross, Adam Sandler, Ariel Shaffir, Robert Smigel and Rob Walker. The film stars Jenny Slate, Jonah Hill, Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart, Seth Rogen, Bill Hader, Michael Cera, James Franco, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, David Krumholtz, Paul Rudd, Lainey Lipson, Steve Coogan, Ellie Kemper, Bobby Moynihan, Lake Bell, Dana Carvey, Hannibal Buress, Kaitlin Olson and Albert Brooks.
This was the first film by Quick Draw Animation, an animation division of Quick Draw Productions and the second animated film by Illumination Entertainment to use live-action, the first was Hop. This was also Happy Madison Productions' second animated film, the first was Eight Crazy Nights. This was also the first animated film by Point Grey Pictures and the second animated film by Gracie Films, the first was The Simpsons Movie.
The Secret Musical Life of Pets was widely identified as the first American CGI-animated film to be rated R by the MPAA. It premiered at VidCon on June 24, 2016, and was released in theatres in the United States on July 8, 2016, by Universal Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews and grossed $875 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing original animated film not produced by Disney or Pixar, as well as the sixth highest-grossing film of 2016, and was the year's most profitable release. The film also parodies Great Scott!, Freaks and Geeks, Jackass, Undeclared, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, MyMusic, The Eric Andre Show, Littlest Pet Shop, Louie and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and makes references to the past movies of the cast, including Jack and Jill, You Don't Mess with the Zohan, Grown Ups, Click, Blended, Hotel Transylvania, Pixels, The Lego Movie, Grandma's Boy, Escape from Planet Earth, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The Angry Birds Movie, Despicable Me, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, The Lorax, Inside Out, Minions, Finding Nemo, Finding Dory, Mr. Peabody & Sherman, The Master of Disguise, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda, Monsters vs. Aliens, Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero 6, Zootopia, Spider-Man, Million Dollar Baby, 50/50, This Is the End, Neighbors, The Interview, The Night Before, Flyboys, Knocked Up, This Is 40, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, 30 Minutes or Less, Superbad, Pineapple Express, Milk, Paul, Moneyball, Your Highness, The Green Hornet, 127 Hours, Oz the Great and Powerful, 21 Jump Street, Spy Kids, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, Madagascar and the Harry Potter film series. A sequel is set for release on June 7, 2019, without C.K. returning.
Plot[]
Adam Sandler and Robert Smigel introduced the film by explaining 3D technology and the Collar Detector. A white Pomeranian named Gidget lives with the Toy Orchestra (consisting of the toys from the Toy Story Toons shorts Small Fry and Partysaurus Rex). When Dolphina accidentally killed a man in the pool, the Pool Patrol quarantines the water park and decapitates his head which was taken home in the basket on the backpiano. Gidget and the others thought that a man was killed and got his head decapitated, but while she thought that they were ready for a musical adventure, they hang out with mixing teddy bear engineer Ted, tabby cat Chloe, pug Mel and budgerigar Sweet Pea. One day, Max, a Jack Russell Terrier who is not so secretly in love with Gidget, saw his next door owner Katie adopting Duke, a large mongrel from the pound, leaving the Toy Orchestra jealous because of her divided focus on Duke. Mini-Buzz Lightyear went to check on him, but he accidentally caused a frenzied panic bumping and hurtling himself. The pets and the Toy Orchestra sense Gidget's owners approaching. The others scatter, leaving Gidget alone when they enter.
Gidget enjoys playing in the bathtub. She then dives under and pretends to be a famous diver swimming with a submarine who talks in a French accent. She then realizes she left the water on and it floods the bathroom. Gidget's owners hear her crying for help and the door opens, letting all the water out. They then chastise her for flooding the bathroom. Meanwhile, the Toy Orchestra reenacted the first spelling adventure from Endless Wordplay, until the next morning, Pirate Crab notices that there is a thunderstorm going to destroy the SS Onomatopoeia. Gidget rushes to save the Toy Orchestra, but she falls into the water. Gidget, Mini-Buzz and the Toy Orchestra helped Maria and Fernando in the La Pasión de la Pasión telenovela by running a hotel. The others reenacted the second spelling adventure in the national park, also from Endless Wordplay. Meanwhile, Duke tries to abandon Max in an alley, but they are both attacked by cats led by Sphynx cat Ozone who removes both dogs' collars and leaves them to be caught by Animal Control. Duke fears that he will be killed if he goes back to the pound.
They are rescued by a white rabbit named Snowball, the leader of "The Flushed Pets" – a gang of sewer-dwelling animals who hate humans because their owners mistreated them. After Max and Duke pretend to despise humans as much as they do by saying they killed their owners, the Flushed Pets invite them to join. Before they can prove their loyalty by allowing a one-fanged viper to bite them, Snowball learns from the cats that Max and Duke's collars were found. The two dogs escape the sewers and board a ferry to Brooklyn, inadvertently killing the viper in the process. Snowball vows to kill them and leads the Flushed Pets after them. Meanwhile, Gidget recruits a red-tailed weather hawk named Tiberius to find Max. After Gidget got a visit from her Sunny Delight blimp agent Lofty Harvey and enlisted Mel, dachshund Buddy, Chloe, guinea pig Norman and Sweet Pea, Tiberius mistakenly returns carrying Ozone who is the one who stole Max's collar. Lofty angrily blasts a tornado which sucks Gidget, Mini-Buzz, Ozone, the pets and the Toy Orchestra. Gidget then breaks the fourth wall, telling the audience that they can help her find Max and attaches the collar to the Collar Detector.
Mini-Buzz, Tiberius, Ozone and the Toy Orchestra were exiled to the Himalayas where they were taken in by a Yeti. Ozone builds a rocket-powered sled which the others realize that they can use to find Max and starts a fight that results in Mini-Buzz getting knocked out. On the way, they meet Pops, an old Basset Hound who helps Gidget, Mini-Buzz, Ozone, the pets and the Toy Orchestra find Max. The Toy Orchestra parachuted on their way to find Max, but Mini-Buzz accidentally falls into a Peterbilt truck named Jerry Recycled Batteries from Cars. When Jerry angrily refuses to kill Mini-Buzz after he bought the mouse to use it as a bullwhip in the past Indiana Jones films, he gets dumped and changed into a sextet (consisting of a cow, a duck, a dog, a sheep, a pig and a lion). Gidget wishes she was a papaya in an episode of The Annoying Orange telling Orange, Pear, Marshmallow and the apple from the bag where Max is, so she recruits Fred to join the Toy Orchestra and find him, but she accidentally gets caught by Animal Control. Snowball also gets caught by Animal Control after he rescues Gidget from the cage.
Meanwhile, Max and Duke raid a sausage factory for food. Carl and deformed sausage Barry are horrified as they witness the other purchased foods being cooked and eaten by Dolphina disguised as a robot, shown from the foods' perspective as a brutal murder. They try to escape out a window, but Dolphina kills Carl with a knife, attempts to cook Barry, gets her disguise decapitated in a domestic accident and only succeeds. She then surfs on a monkey tree, only to get eaten by a shark. Barry stumbles across Gidget, who becomes able to communicate with the others to find Max. When Dolphina discovers that a monkey tree is eaten, she decides to plot revenge on the shark and find someone under the sea to help the others find Max. Gidget, Mini-Buzz, Ozone, the pets and the Toy Orchestra were caught in a fishing net by a massive flock of seagulls. Fred and Barry order them to fly upward to the land. As soon as Dolphina finds a mermaid, the submarine escapes the giant squid and breaks the net, propelling the seagulls into the sea and enabling Gidget, Mini-Buzz, Ozone, the pets and the Toy Orchestra to escape.
In the meantime, Max and Duke entertain at a child's birthday party, disguised as a purple monster character named Party Marty. Duke tells Max about his previous owner, Frank, an elderly man who adopted him as a puppy and loved spending time with him. One day, Duke got lost while chasing a butterfly and was caught by Animal Control, but Frank never came to claim him. Max convinces him to visit Frank's house in a nearby neighborhood, but Max, Duke and the party guests all scared each other. Meanwhile, Gidget, Mini-Buzz, Ozone, Fred, Barry, the pets and the Toy Orchestra got a visit from Santa Claus who got lost finding his way to New York City. He also tells Mini-Buzz that fruit salad will help Gidget find Max.
Afterwards, Gidget, Mini-Buzz, Ozone, Fred, Barry, the pets and the Toy Orchestra go to the School Science Fair to meet Molly, one of the kids who is the last one to help them find Max. She goes around the world with the help of the Around the World Machine and wonders if she flies in a hot air balloon on the way to dreamland in her final spelling adventure, before Lofty and the media descend on the town to capture Gidget who gets caught in an exorcism attempt by bees.
Max and Duke arrived at Frank's house and Reginald learnt that Frank was presumed dead, but came back as a ghost. Heartbroken, Duke accuses Max of attempting to get rid of him and barks at the new homeowners who have just returned to the house and called Animal Control. The handlers catch Max, but Duke interferes long enough for Max to escape and ends up being captured instead. While trying to rescue Duke as he follows the Animal Control van, Max is attacked by Snowball who tries to kill him. However, when his gang is captured, Snowball realizes that he and Max must work together to rescue them. They drive a city bus into the van on the Brooklyn Bridge, stopping traffic. When Lofty discovers a poster for Sing which means that the next film doesn't come out until Christmas, he wrecks the bus which Snowball refuses to respond, but Gidget, Mini-Buzz, Ozone, Fred, Barry, the pets and the Toy Orchestra save him. Gidget uses her kung-fu fighting skills, retrieves the collar back to Max and falls in love with him.
The van gets stuck in scaffolding and the Flushed Pets escape. As soon as Gidget gets the keys to Duke's cage, the van plummets into the East River with her inside. Lofty warns Snowball that he was being petty for destroying the van and captures him with bees, but Molly and the media interrupt him. Molly uses her kung-fu fighting skills to do the same as Gidget does, but Lofty taunts and flips her off. Immediately afterward, Molly finds the keys that Gidget left and jumps into the river to retrieve them, allowing herself and Duke to escape the sinking van, just as Lofty and Snowball plunged into it.
Molly tries to realize how good being heroic she feels, but she gets eaten by an angel shark. Max tries to express his love for Gidget, but Molly's mother interrupts that her son got eaten by an angel shark. She then gets pushed off the bridge and falls into the mouth of the angel shark. Gidget finally retrieves Duke's collar back to him and the entire group celebrates their victory. The people sang along with Mini-Buzz at Lofty's funeral. Later, Max appears at Lofty's tribute, thanking everyone for saving himself and Duke and welcoming the Toy Orchestra for the final time to end the film. They posed a picture with Max and Duke saying "Cheese!" as the film ends. Smigel sobs uncontrollably that Lofty is gone.
Max and Duke are finally reunited with Katie. They then look over to find the ghost of Frank playing Dragon Ball Z: For Kinect on the XBOX 36 and Tattoo crashes to the floor on the chandelier, killing him in the process.
Cast[]
- Jenny Slate as Gidget, a white Pomeranian who is the leader of the Toy Orchestra.
- Katy Perry as Roxy Boxy, a harp-playing boxing-themed turtle of the Toy Orchestra and Gidget’s singing voice
- Jonah Hill as Mini-Buzz Lightyear, a modern-day space conductor action figure of the Toy Orchestra and Gidget’s sidekick.
- Hill also voices Carl, a sausage that Dolphinbot sliced.
- Louis C.K. as Max, a Jack Russell Terrier and Gidget’s love interest.
- Eric Stonestreet as Duke, a large, brown, shaggy mongrel.
- Kevin Hart as Snowball, a white rabbit.
- Seth Rogen as the Yeti aka the Abominable Snowman, a furry white monster who was banished to the Himalayas.
- Bill Hader as Ted, a mixing teddy bear engineer of the Toy Orchestra.
- Michael Cera as Ozone, a Sphynx cat piano percussionist of the Toy Orchestra.
- Cera also voices Barry, a deformed sausage piano percussionist of the Toy Orchestra.
- James Franco as Lofty Harvey, Gidget’s literal and figurative Sunny Delight blimp agent.
- Danny McBride as Recycle Ben, a blue recycling bin percussionist of the Toy Orchestra.
- Craig Robinson as the Viper who is one of the Flushed Pets.
- David Krumholtz as Jerry Recycled Batteries, the mean Peterbilt truck that Mini-Buzz mistook for the Animal Control van.
- Paul Rudd as Fred, a starstruck, very rusty old car guitarist resembling a Lada 2107 of the Toy Orchestra.
- Lainey Lipson as Neptuna, a mermaid toy guitarist of the Toy Orchestra.
- Steve Coogan as Lizard Wizard, a small lime green flute-playing lizard toy of the Toy Orchestra.
- Coogan also voices Reginald, a malevolent Himalayan cat.
- Ellie Kemper as Katie, Max and Duke’s friendly next door owner.
- Bobby Moynihan as Mel, a hyperactive pug and one of Gidget’s friends.
- Lake Bell as Chloe, an obese and apathetic grey tabby cat who is one of Gidget’s friends.
- Dana Carvey as Pops, an elderly Basset Hound, who is paralyzed in his back legs.
- Hannibal Buress as Buddy, a laid-back dachshund and one of Gidget’s friends.
- Kaitlin Olson as Babs, a turquoise accordion-playing octopus of the Toy Orchestra.
- Albert Brooks as Tiberius, a curmudgeonly red-tailed weather hawk.
- Mike Jeavons as Tiberius' singing voice
- Chris Renaud as Norman, a guinea pig who keeps getting lost trying to find his apartment.
- Michael Beattie as Tattoo, a slow-witted tattooed pig who is one of the Flushed Pets.
- Adam Sandler as himself in the opening and closing live-action sequences, Chuck E Duck, a yellow rubber duck guitarist of the Toy Orchestra, Harry, a mosquito and the seagulls.
- Robert Smigel as himself in the opening and closing live-action sequences, Captain Suds, an old boat banjoist of the Toy Orchestra, the seagulls and Santa Claus.
- Sugar Lyn Beard as Cuddles, a violin-playing alligator of the Toy Orchestra and the baby carrots.
- Robert Rodriguez as Automated Voice / Lifeguard / Shark
- Greg Tiernan as Condorman, a trumpet-playing condor-themed superhero of the Toy Orchestra and an Irish potato
- Conrad Vernon as a street hockey player, a French-accented submarine in Gidget’s underwater sequence, a cow, a dog, a pig and a lion.
- Maryke Hendrikse as Loretta, a hot dog bun, a duck, a sheep and a little cello-playing mermaid of the Toy Orchestra.
- Kelly Sheridan as DJ Blu Jay, a mixing blue jay engineer of the Toy Orchestra, Roberta, a hot dog bun and a singing whale.
- Nicole Oliver as Dolphina/Dolphinbot, a purple dolphin pianist of the Toy Orchestra who becomes a robot, Maria, a character from the La Pasión de la Pasión telenovela that Gidget watches and Sally, a hot dog bun.
- Anders Holm as Fernando, a character from the La Pasión de la Pasión telenovela that Gidget watches.
- Holm also voices Troy, a sausage that got covered in wine from the bottle that Dolphinbot popped the cork off it.
- Johnny Knoxville as a soprano saxophone-playing diver of the Toy Orchestra.
- Bam Margera as Super Pirate, a tenor saxophone-playing pirate-themed superhero of the Toy Orchestra.
- Steve-O as T-Bone, a baritone saxophone-playing steak-like Transformer of the Toy Orchestra.
- Jason "Wee-Man" Acuña as Funky Monk, a bass saxophone-playing monk of the Toy Orchestra.
- Danger Ehren as Gary Grappling Hook, an oboe-playing green toy gun of the Toy Orchestra.
- Preston Lacy as Nervous Sys-Tim, a clarinet-playing clear plastic human of the Toy Orchestra.
- Dave England as a contrabassoon-playing ghost burger of the Toy Orchestra.
- Chris Pontius as Pizza Bot, a bassoon-playing blue pizza box-headed robot of the Toy Orchestra.
- Peter Mansbridge as Peter Moosebridge, a moose announcer who tells the warning and reminder disclaimers at the beginning and end of the film, introduces the title at the beginning of the La Pasión de la Pasión telenovela and reports that anyone is missing in a bit of a confused muddle and about Lofty Harvey and Snowball’s deaths. The moose is used in the standard version of the film, released in the United States, Italy, France, Canada, Russia, and Mexico. In the UK version, the moose is named as Moosos Alexander, voiced by radio journalist Vassos Alexander. In other countries, the announcer is a different animal voiced by a different person. David Campbell voices a koala announcer named David Koalabell in the Australian and New Zealand versions. The Brazilian version uses a jaguar named Boi Chá who is voiced by Ricardo Boechat. The Japanese version uses a tanuki named Michael Tanuyama who is voiced by Kazumasa Kōra. The Chinese version uses an unnamed giant panda that is also voiced by Mansbridge.
- Tom and Ray Magliozzi as Rusty and Dusty Rust-eze, the spokescars and owners of Rust-eze.
- Sarah Clark as Kori Turbowitz, a 1997 Ford Puma news reporter.
- Dane Boedigheimer as Annoying Orange / Pear / Marshmallow / Apple #2
- Robert Jennings as Apple #1
- Kristen Wiig as Molly, a little scientist girl from the Science School Fair.
- Evan Goldberg and Jeff Tremaine as the filmmakers in the opening live-action sequence.
- Tom Gammill and Max Pross as the Pool Patrol agents who were able to murder a man in the pool.
Production[]
When asked whether a sequel to This Is the End was probable, Evan Goldberg said, "If you ask me, I'd say there's a pretty good chance of a sequel. If you ask Seth Rogen, he'd say no." In June 2013, Goldberg announced ideas for a sequel in which the apocalypse occurs at the premiere of the film. "Seth's a cokehead in this version, Michael Cera is a calm dude with a boyfriend, Rihanna and The Backstreet Boys are back," Goldberg said in an interview. "We have a lot of ideas: a heaven and hell, for example, and a garden of Eden version where Danny [McBride] is Adam." Despite this, Goldberg has stated it would be difficult to recreate the casting conditions from the first film due to different schedules, believing them to be a stroke of luck, saying, "I honestly don't know if we could get the guys together [again]." In January 2014, it was announced that Jenny Slate, Jonah Hill, Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet and Kevin Hart had joined the cast of the film, with Yarrow Cheney, Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards, Tony Leech, Chris Renaud, Robert Rodriguez, Brad Silberling, Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon and Doug Walker set to direct from a screenplay written by Allen Covert, Ken Daurio, Tom Gammill, Evan Goldberg, Kyle Hunter, Brian Lynch, Cinco Paul, Max Pross, Adam Sandler, Ariel Shaffir, Robert Smigel and Rob Walker while Quick Draw Animation, Blue Yonder Films, Point Grey Pictures, Illumination Entertainment, Quick Draw Productions, Happy Madison Productions, Dickhouse Productions, Gracie Films and Channel Awesome would produce, and Universal Pictures would distribute the film and was originally titled Gidget's Musical Adventure. In May 2014, Seth Rogen tweeted that he wanted to make an R-rated 3D animated sequel to This Is the End about pets instead of a live-action sequel and in June 2014, he was confirmed to have been hired along with Bill Hader, Michael Cera, James Franco, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, David Krumholtz, Paul Rudd, Lainey Lipson, Steve Coogan, Ellie Kemper, Bobby Moynihan, Lake Bell, Dana Carvey, Hannibal Buress, Kaitlin Olson and Albert Brooks to join the cast. The animation were created entirely by Illumination MacGuff, Nitrogen Studios, Originator and Pixar while the opening and closing live-action segments were shot at Troublemaker Studios. The film was dedicated to the memory of Ryan Dunn, Anton Yelchin, Risha Meledandri and her beloved dogs Bruno and Mishka, but in the UK version, Yelchin's name was removed.
Music and soundtrack[]
The official soundtrack for the film was released on July 1, 2016, by Back Lot Music. The soundtrack also features 30 original songs written by Adam Sandler, Allen Covert, Robert Smigel and Doug Walker and 73 score pieces composed by Alexandre Desplat, Henry Jackman, Christopher Lennertz, Alan Menken, Mark Mothersbaugh, Robert Rodriguez and the Piano Guys.
Track listing[]
All music composed by Alexandre Desplat, Henry Jackman, Christopher Lennertz, Alan Menken, Mark Mothersbaugh, Robert Rodriguez and the Piano Guys, except the songs by Adam Sandler, Allen Covert, Robert Smigel and Doug Walker.
Disc 1: Gidget Joins the Toy Orchestra[]
- Call of 3D
- Happy Together
- Gidget's Wondrous Nightmare
- Mickey Marching to Marrakesh
- Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Red Car
- New York/The Pool Patrol
- Rock a Bye Your Bear
- The Toy Orchestra
- Katie's Leaving
- Vent Ride
- I Wish I Could Talk to a Fish (1)
- Yogo Au Gogo
- Meet Duke
- Hey Hey Hey We're All Space Dancing
- Phase 1
- The SS Onomatopoeia Spin
- Underwaterture
- Cat Chasing Rat Scaring Bat
- Jazzy Lobster Quartet
- Vampires Will Be Friends Forever
Disc 2: Max Goes Missing[]
- Sleepy Time
- The Crab Dance
- Good Morning Frank
- Telenovela Shipwreck
- Hoop Dee Doo
- Phase 2
- News Time
- Put the Fire on the Pit
- The Pig Jig
- Cot Problem
- Mini-Buzz Goes to the Top of the Tree
- Scary Bog
- Steel Party
- Rolling Down the Sandhills
- Running Up the Sandhills
- Fetch Me a Stick
- Rolling Down the Sandhills (Reprise)
- The VNC
- Can You Point Your Fingers and Do the Twist?
- Riding on a Surfboard
Disc 3: The Search for Max Begins[]
- Hijack!
- Gidget Meets Tiberius
- Thank You, Mr. Weather Hawk!
- Phase 3/It's a Twister!
- Exile
- Crazy Snowmobile Conga
- Sledding Back to Find Max
- I Wish I Could Talk to a Fish (2)
- Still Sledding Back to Find Max
- Initiation Time
- Phase 4
- Me Like What Me See
- The Viper
- Rooftop Route
- The Peterbilt
- Old MacDonald Had a Farm
- Flushed Out to Brooklyn
- Phase 5
- First Pomeranian Fruiter (1)
- Sausages!
Disc 4: The Search for Max Continues[]
- First Pomeranian Fruiter (2)
- Bird Flight
- Play Your Guitar with Fred
- We Go Together
- Phase 6/Food Massacre
- Locked in Jail
- I Have Proof
- River Surfing Back to New York
- The Monkey Dance
- Phase 7/Pelicans
- Under the Sea
- Puffer Fish Anger
- Deep Dark Ship/Seagull Attack!
- Trapped in a Net/Finding the Mermaid
- Splish Splash
- Get Back on the Grass!
- Party Marty
- You Have an Owner?
- Hands Dancing
- Here Come the Reindeer
Disc 5: Max Is Found[]
- Fruit Salad
- Quack Quack
- Phase 8
- Zing Zang Wing Wang Wong
- Quack-a-Doodle Doo
- Eagle Rock
- Vegetable Soup
- Phase 9
- I Like to Be a Bubble
- Flight to Dreamland
- Welcome to Dreamland
- Goodbye
- Hot Potato
- Duke's Old House/Captured
- Gidget's Brooklyn Bridge Showdown
- Max's Collar Retrieved
- Rescuing Duke/Molly's Brooklyn Bridge Showdown
- The Van's Sinking!
- I Wish I Could Talk to a Fish (3)
- Wet But Handsome
- I Wish I Could Talk to a Fish (4)
- Duke's Collar Retrieved
- No. 1
- News Flash
- This Friendly World
- I'm in Love with a Robot
- End Credits Suite
Release[]
The film was originally scheduled to be released on February 12, 2016, but was pushed back to July 8, 2016. It was the second R-rated film to be released in 2D and 3D theatres, the first was Jackass 3D. The Secret Musical Life of Pets premiered at VidCon on June 24, 2016. The film is accompanied by the first R-rated animated short film entitled Garden Aliens.
Home media[]
The Secret Musical Life of Pets was released on Digital HD on November 22, 2016, and on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, Ultra HD Blu-ray, and DVD on December 6, 2016. In addition to the short film Garden Aliens which was released theatrically with the feature film, the releases also include two short films: Gidget's TV Trouble and Runaway Stand.
Reception[]
Box office[]
The Secret Musical Life of Pets grossed $368.4 million in Canada and the U.S. and $507.1 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $875.5 million against a production budget of $75 million. Its international takings helped push Universal Pictures [International] past $1 billion for the tenth consecutive year and aided Illumination Entertainment to pass the $4 billion mark for the first time since 2010.
It is the fifth highest-grossing original worldwide film of all time (behind Avatar, Zootopia, The Lion King, and Finding Nemo), the sixth highest-grossing film of 2016, the 12th highest-grossing animated film of all time, and the 50th highest-grossing film of all time. Deadline.com calculated the net profit of the film to be $374.6 million when factoring together all expenses and revenues for the film, making it the most profitable release of 2016.
North America[]
In Canada and the United States, the film was projected to gross around $70 million in its opening weekend with some predictions going as high as $100 million. It received the widest release for an animated film as well as for an R-rated film (breaking South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut's record) and the seventh widest of all time overall across 4,370 theaters, the widest release since The Dark Knight Rises. It made $5.3 million from Thursday night previews in 3,009 theaters which is the second biggest of all time for Illumination behind only Minions ($6.2 million), and the third biggest of all time for an animated film behind Finding Dory ($9.2 million) and Minions. This was followed by a record-breaking $38.5 million opening day gross (including previews), the biggest for an original film. In its opening weekend, it exceeded expectations and grossed $104.4 million, finishing first at the box office. Its debut is the sixth biggest for an animated film, the sixth highest weekend debut in July, and the fourth biggest opening weekend for Universal Pictures. It also set the record for the largest opening for an original film, eclipsing the $90.4 million debut of Inside Out.
In its second weekend, the film made $50.8 million (-51.3%) while maintaining the top spot, despite facing stiff competition with newcomer Ghostbusters. Although it slipped into second place when overtaken by Star Trek Beyond in its third weekend, it was still able to fend off the two other new releases—Lights Out and Ice Age: Collision Course—by earning another $29.6 million. It passed $300 million on its twenty-sixth day—the same day it crossed $400 million worldwide—becoming the seventh film of 2016, the seventh Universal Pictures film (the first for the year), and the twelfth animated film overall to reach the benchmark.
Outside North America[]
Internationally, The Secret Musical Life of Pets received a scattered release from June to September in a total of 69 markets, and faced competition from other animated films such as Finding Dory and Ice Age: Collision Course in the course of its release. In total, it had number-one openings in 45 markets and recorded the biggest opening for an original animated film in 17 territories, and the No. 1 animated film of 2016 to date in 13 markets. It topped the international box office in its ninth weekend after earning $43.8 million in 53 markets (dethroning Suicide Squad). However, this wasn't the film's biggest single weekend gross. Its biggest weekend gross was actually in its seventh weekend when it grossed $69.3 million. It opened at No. 3 behind Suicide Squad ($133.3 million) and the Chinese film Time Raiders ($64.6 million) that weekend.
It was released in the United Kingdom and Norway two weeks ahead of its U.S. release, where it grossed a combined total of $14.1 million in the two markets. Prior to its official debut in the UK and Ireland on June 24, the film had two days worth of previews on June 18 and 19 from which it made £3.63 million ($5.2 million) in two days. This figure was later counted in the film's official opening weekend. It went on to score the fourth biggest original animation opening weekend ever there, with £9.58 million ($13.4 million) from 592 theaters, trailing behind Inside Out, Monsters, Inc., and Up. Excluding previews, its total three-day opening was $8.1 million. This was amidst Brexit and despite facing competition from Independence Day: Resurgence. The film held off extremely well in its second and third weekend falling just 20% and 24%, earning £4.47 million ($6.1 million) and £3.62 million ($4.8 million) respectively despite facing some competitions. It has topped the box office for three consecutive weekends and has grossed total of $41 million there. In Norway, it took the number one spot as well, with $778,000. It scored the biggest animation opening of 2016 and the second biggest of all time overall in both Taiwan ($2 million)—behind Madagascar, and Hong Kong ($1.9 million)—behind Inside Out.
In Argentina, the film had a record-breaking number-one debut with $4 million from 195 screens — the biggest opening weekend ever for an animated film and the second biggest opening ever for any film (behind Furious 7). Similarly, Chile also recorded the second biggest animated opening ever with $1.7 million (behind Minions). Colombia also opened at No. 1 with a huge $1.5 million. In Mexico, other than opening at No. 1, it posted the biggest original animated opening of all time with $7.6 million, surpassing the studio's own previous record holder Inside Out. Also in Russia, it scored the biggest original animated opening and the second biggest ever for an animated film behind Minions with $16.3 million, although this included $6.4 million five days worth of previews. It went on to become the highest-grossing film of the summer that year. In Japan, the film opened on August 11—the date of Japan's first Mountain Day national holiday—with Toho-Towa distributing, and earned $4.6 million on 370,000 admissions for its two-day opening weekend dethroning Shin Godzilla off the top spot. The cumulative total for the four-day holiday (August 11–14) was $9.7 million. Similarly, it had number-one debuts in Germany ($7.1 million), France ($5.9 million), Australia ($5.6 million), Italy ($5.1 million), Brazil ($4.4 million), Spain ($4.5 million), Poland ($1.7 million), Singapore ($1.3 million), Belgium ($1.2 million), Denmark ($1.2 million), Indonesia ($1.1 million), the Philippines ($1 million), and South Africa ($463,000). In Germany, it scored the best animation opening since Minions. It topped the box office in Israel for five straight weekends and in Australia, Russia and Spain for three weekends. In Japan, the film was the highest-grossing foreign release of the weekend, holding the top spot for four consecutive weekends.
In China—the world's second biggest film market—the film opened on a Tuesday, earning a modest $5.2 million on its opening day. To Sunday, it achieved a six-day opening of $29.3 million and $15.5 million for the weekend alone (Friday to Sunday), with per screen averages over $500 per screen per day. In both instances, it was behind the local film Time Raiders. In South Korea, despite debuting in fifth place, it had an opening of $6.9 million. Elsewhere, it grossed $2.7 million in the Netherlands, $1.2 million in Sweden and in Hungary, it scored the biggest opening of the year with $738,000, and also in Portugal ($965,000), Latvia ($224,000), and South Africa.
In terms of total earnings, its biggest markets are China ($58 million), United Kingdom and Ireland ($47.2 million), Japan ($41.6 million) and Russia ($34.2 million). It became the third highest-grossing film of all time in Russia (behind Avatar and Zootopia) and the highest-grossing film of 2016 in Spain.
Critical response[]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 74% based on 204 reviews with an average rating of 6.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Fast-paced, funny, and blessed with a talented voice cast, The Secret Musical Life of Pets offers a beautifully animated, cheerfully demanding musical diversion." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 61 out of 100 based on 39 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film three out of four stars and called it "an animated fluffball-a sort of My Little Pony with pets does everything to drive you crazy and ends up being totally irresistible." Scott Tobias, writing for NPR, characterized the film's concept as "a house pet musical," highlighting the film's "thinly distinguished characters" and "gloppy sentimentality." Steven Rea of The Philadelphia Inquirer gave the film three out of four stars and said "In much the same way that the smash Zootopia demonstrated that creatures of different culture and class and species are better off when they come together, The Secret Musical Life of Pets is a testament to teamwork and friendship and fixing the rifts that divide us. Let the music rock your balls off."
However, some critics disliked the film's unexpected similarities with Hasbro's My Little Pony. Matthew Parkinson of The Escapist compared the plots of both films and wrote that "The Secret Musical Life of Pets feels like Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt that you've ever seen on Netflix." Ethan Anderton of the website /Film criticised the film's characterisation, and noted that the relationship between Max and Duke was akin to "go over and over again."
Sequel[]
In August 2016, it was announced that there would be a sequel with filmmakers James L. Brooks, Allen Covert, Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards, Tom Gammill, Evan Goldberg, Janet Healy, Jonah Hill, Kyle Hunter, Spike Jonze, Aaron Kaufman, Johnny Knoxville, Tony Leech, Brian Lynch, Chris Meledandri, Michael Michaud, Iliana Nikolic, Max Pross, Chris Renaud, Robert Rodriguez, Seth Rogen, Adam Sandler, Ariel Shaffir, Brad Silberling, Robert Smigel, Preston Stutzman, Greg Tiernan, Jeff Tremaine, Conrad Vernon, Doug Walker, Rob Walker and James Weaver, and a release date of July 13, 2018, with Rogen expressing interest in making the film along with Sausage Party 2 and more animated films aimed for adults. On January 25, 2017, its release date was pushed back to July 3, 2019. On August 15, 2017, its release date was moved forward to June 7, 2019. On November 10, 2017, it was announced that Louis C.K. would not be reprising his role as Max after being accused of and admitting to inappropriate sexual conduct with five women.