The first trailer of Brad Pitt and David Ayer’s new film, Heart of the Beast, was released this week to twenty-two million views. And with it came the most important information about the film. No, not the cast, the director or the film’s story. It’s four simple words from a social media post by the film’s producer, Richard Raymond: “The dog does not die.” And that’s a promise.
In the same post, Raymond pointed out just how special the film was to him and how he spent five years chasing the project. Heart of the Beast, which arrives in movie theaters on September 25, is a survival thriller starring Brad Pitt and his retired combat German Shepherd named Odin, who you can already tell is going to win over a lot of hearts.
Raymond understands this perfectly. He grew up around German Shepherds. His mother breeds and trains the dogs. And after half a decade of knocking on doors, shooting in New Zealand with Pitt and JK Simmons, and getting Paramount as the film’s distributor, he felt it very necessary to address the thing every dog movie fan dreads. Yes, the dog in Heart of the Beast lives.
The fact that this assurance now functions as marketing for the film tells you exactly where audiences are with dog films in 2026.
Hollywood Is in Its Dog Era
If you look at the release slate this last year, there’s definitely a pattern.
James Gunn’s Superman built a significant amount of its charm around Krypto, who the filmmakers described as the worst dog in the world with superpowers. Then Shudder’s Good Boy turned a loyal dog into a horror icon. Even Ridley Scott’s troubled The Dog Stars is part of this wave. And Supergirl, arriving June 26, continues Krypto’s story in the DCU. In fact, he seems to be a center focus in the story this time. Now, Heart of the Beast puts a German Shepherd alongside one of the biggest movie stars alive.
Dog movies are so back.
The obvious question is: Why now? And, honestly, the answer probably lies with audiences’ frustration with characters in film who just don’t connect. The dog movie might be anti-franchise right now. It requires a person and an animal and an emotional connection. That’s it. And in a world full of complicated people, a loyal and loving dog is easier to connect with.
Krypto Changed the Game
Before Superman came out, most people saw his dog, Krypto, as a canine version of the hero – dependable, heroic and perfect. Then David Corenswet explained in an interview that the world’s viewpoint was completely wrong. In the world Gunn built, Krypto isn’t Superman’s dog, but Supergirl’s. And he’s also a bit of a menace. He destroys the Fortress of Solitude. He’s always chasing wildlife. And he barely listens to instructions. He’s a lot more like Supergirl than Superman. But none of that makes him less lovable. And because of that, he steals every scene he is in.
What’s also interesting is that Gunn based Krypto on his own dog, Ozu, who came from a hoarding situation and immediately destroyed his home, shoes, furniture, and laptop. That inspiration grounds this version of Krypto and is exactly why audiences responded to him the way they did. They saw their own “naughty” dog on screen.
Supergirl screenwriter Ana Nogueira also revealed in an interview with Empire that she bonded with Gunn over owning a mess of a dog and how that dynamic was perfect for Kara: “She’s also kind of a mess and wouldn’t know how to train a dog.” A bad dog and a flawed hero have more in common than you’d think — and audiences feel it.
Krypto is also proving to be a major commercial play. Warner Bros. has been banking heavily on Krypto merchandise, with the character driving significant toy sales ahead of both Superman and Supergirl. And this was clearly all part of their strategy.
The Oldest Promise in Cinema
There’s a reason the producer of Heart of the Beast went out of his way to make the announcement before the film opened. Dog movies carry a specific dread that no other genre replicates. Audiences have been conditioned — by Marley & Me, by I Am Legend, by a hundred others — to brace for impact the moment a dog appears in a film with any emotional weight. The question “does the dog die?” has become its own internet phenomenon and its own search category.
Raymond’s post was smart because it gave audiences peace before they even sat down. Now, everyone can relax and feel the thriller without the worry. You can invest in the German Shepherd without armouring yourself.
Whether that’s a permanent shift in how dog films are marketed, or just one producer reading the room really well, remains to be seen. But it worked well.
The Lineage
Krypto, Odin, and The Dog Stars’ Jasper join a long lineage of TV dogs, like Lassie, Benji, Beethoven, and Hachi. Just like superhero dogs have been part of comics since the 1950s, dogs have been part of film since a British Collie named Blair in a 1905 silent film named Rescued by Rover.
Heart of the Beast arrives September 25. Supergirl, with Krypto, arrives sooner: June 26.
Everybody loves a dog. Nobody wants to see them die.
