Phil Lord and Chris Miller are continuing their path to producing dominance with Strays, a live-action comedy that’s just been picked up by Universal Pictures. Based on an original pitch from writer Dan Perrault, the film will follow a dog looking to enact revenge against the human that abandoned it, and that’s the kind of premise I can get behind. Josh Greenbaum, who helmed the wonderfully silly Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, will direct the pic.

Variety has the scoop that Lord and Miller, as part of their first-look deal with the Donna Langley-led Universal that “aims to produce features in both comedy and drama based on original content, existing IP and other media formats,” will produce Strays, a live-action comedy from an idea by Dan Perrault. The story is “about an abandoned dog who teams up with other strays to get revenge on his former owner.” As a big fan of dogs and all things dog-related, I am completely on board with this premise. I recently saw a news story about how some people who adopted dogs during the pandemic are simply returning them to shelters now that the pandemic is winding down, and it made me miserable and also confirmed my long-standing belief that humans are trash. Be nice to dogs, people. Please.

I also like that while this premise could easily lend itself to animation, Strays is going to be live-action. Josh Greenbaum, who recently directed the goofy and wonderful Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, is helming Strays, and if he brings the same amount of unapologetically silly tone to this material, it’s bound to be pretty damn great.

Variety adds that “Picturestart packaged Perrault’s script for Greenbaum, Lord and Miller and their label’s film president Aditya Sood, and producer Louis Leterrier (Lupin, Now You See Me) who will join via his Rabbit Hole Productions banner. Erik Feig (Unpregnant, La La Land) will produce for Picturestart.”

Lord and Miller recently produced the wonderful animated film The Mitchells vs. The Machines. Next, they’ll be trying their hand at drama with The Premonition: A Pandemic Story, based on the book by Michael Lewis. They’re also producing the highly-anticipated sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. We’ve reached a point (in fact, I think we’re well beyond that point) where anything Lord and Miller attach their names to is worth checking out, and Strays is no exception.

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