It’s a Dog! It’s a man! It’s…Dog Man! The beloved canine caped crusader is heading to the big screen, with a feature film adaptation of Dog Man on its way from DreamWorks Animation. Based on the best-selling graphic novel series by Dav Pilkey, the animated Dog Man movie is set to be directed by Peter Hastings, a writer behind ’90s hit series like Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain.

The Hollywood Reporter has the news that DreamWorks is letting the Dog Man out. DreamWorks Animation, the animation arm owned by Universal, is developing a feature film adaptation of Dog Man, based on the Scholastic graphic novels which follow the “madcap adventures of Dog Man, a lovable canine superhero, and his friends Li’l Petey, a curious kitten who embodies love, optimism and hope, and 80-HD, a robot who expresses himself best through his art,” a team that call themselves the “Supa Buddies.”

Peter Hastings, who has written for animated TV like Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness and The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants is attached to direct. The latter show gives him a greater connection to Dog Man — Pilkey’s first big hit was the Captain Underpants illustrated novel series, and he would deliver another children’s hit immediately after with Dog Man, which the author began after winding down on Captain Underpants. Dog Man would become an even bigger hit, with all nine books becoming No. 1 best-sellers and recent titles having first printings of three million and five million copies. That’s bigger than many of the offerings from major titles from DC and Marvel.

Dog Man has nearly 40 million copies in print to date and has been translated into 40 foreign languages. The most recent title, Dog Man: Grime & Punishment, was published on September 1, 2020 with the 10th book, Dog Man: Mothering Heights, set to be released by Scholastic on March 23, 2021. And DreamWorks has gotten great success out of Pilkey’s work too, with their previous collaboration, 2017’s Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, grossing more than $125 million globally.

“I am humbled and grateful to once again work with the brilliant Peter Hastings and the outstanding team at DreamWorks Animation,” Pilkey said.

“This is my second project based on Dav Pilkey’s books and I’m very excited to take his funny, clever, emotional and ultimately inspirational Dog Man and make it move!” added Hastings. “Not just by telling the story, but by absorbing and building on his great sensibility, bringing it to the screen with deep respect to his gazillion fans – ’cause I’m one of them.”

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