A Channing Tatum Movie Just Hit #1 On Streaming
A Channing Tatum movie is currently sitting at the top of the streaming charts after a quick but pretty successful theater run.
Channing Tatum has had one of the more interesting careers in Hollywood, starting essentially as a dancer who eventually became one of the biggest stars the town has to offer. He’s been able to star in all manner of films from comedy to action and shown a certain sensibility and every-man-ness which has an appeal in a variety of films. One of those flicks just hit streaming and didn’t take any time at all to climb to the top of the charts. Dog is currently number one on Amazon after only a day on the streamer. It helps that this was just in theaters less than a month ago so it’s clearly fresh in people’s minds, something that is surely helping the online performance.
In Dog, Channing Tatum plays Jackson Briggs, a US Army Ranger who now has a very different mission. He’s been asked to take a dog, Lulu, on a min-road trip so that the canine can attend her former handler’s funeral. What ensues is your classic man and dog film, the play on the buddy cop genre, with Tatum’s Briggs trying to soften as a person while the dog gets into all kinds of hijinks. These kinds of movies, especially the ones involving dogs seem to get made a couple of times a year and they tend to follow very predictable, though time-tested, beats. In this one, Channing Tatum is asked to carry much of the narrative considering a big part of the film is just he and Lulu interacting.
That’s because in addition to becoming a dog person along the way, Channing Tatum’s character is also trying to overcome PTSD of his own. This comes from his military service and in this way, the two are seeking to help each other. Briggs is working to keep the dog in check and in line while Lulu is clearly there to provide an outlet for Briggs to work through the variety of emotions and trauma that come with this line of work. Check out Channing Tatum in the trailer for Dog.
In addition to Channing Tatum and the aforementioned Lulu, Dog has a few other notables, though it’s worth it to note that this movie spends most of its time with the two leads. Jane Adams is along as a dog expert who is helping Tatum’s character. And ex-wrestler Kevin Nash is part of the cast as well. There’s also Q’oriana Kilcher of Yellowstone fame and Ethan Suplee as well. They were all on board for this one which was Channing Tatum’s feature-length directorial debut. He co-directed with Reid Carolin who also penned the script.
Channing Tatum and Dog saw solid success at the box office earning nearly $50 million on its $15 million budget. The theater run wasn’t all that long having just been released on February 18th. So the streaming stretch began a mere three weeks later. And for his first time behind the camera, this was a total win for Channing Tatum on the critical side of things. The movie is currently sitting at 72% on Rotten Tomatoes and 61 on Metacritic. Considering the somewhat schmaltzy subject matter, this was a total win on the critical side with reviews calling it “authentic” and a “crowd-pleaser”.
And Dog isn’t the only movie coming out for Channing Tatum this year. In a couple of weeks, The Lost City will hit theaters as well (it’s debuting at SXSW this weekend). He will star alongside Sandra Bullock in what looks like a purposefully silly story about a romance novelist and her hunky model subject who get kidnapped together. The film also has Brad Pitt and Daniel Radcliffe among others. It looks like a tongue-in-cheek romp with everyone playing over-the-top versions of classic movie characters.
In the next couple of years, Channing Tatum is also set to return to his most successful franchise when Magic Mike’s Last Dance hits theaters. The franchise and character are based, in some part, on Tatum’s own life and has had an excellent run so far. This final movie will have the titular character finally finding love and there’s excitement to see this trilogy come to a fitting conclusion. In the meantime, be sure to check out Dog streaming on Amazon.
