Some friendships transcend lifetimes. In A Dog’s Journey, the sequel to the heartwarming global hit A Dog’s Purpose, beloved dog Bailey finds his new destiny and forms an unbreakable bond that will lead him, and the people he loves, to places they never imagined.
Bailey (voiced by JOSH GAD, Frozen) is living the good life on the Michigan farm of his “boy,” Ethan (DENNIS QUAID, The Special Relationship) and Ethan’s wife, Hannah (MARG HELGENBERGER, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation). He even has a new playmate: Ethan and Hannah’s baby granddaughter, CJ. The problem is that CJ’s mom, Gloria (BETTY GILPIN, Netflix’s GLOW), decides to take CJ away. As Bailey’s soul prepares to leave this life for a new one, he makes a promise to Ethan to find CJ and protect her at any cost.
Thus begins Bailey’s adventure through multiple lives filled with love, friendship and devotion as he, CJ (KATHRYN PRESCOTT, 24: Legacy) and CJ’s best friend, Trent (HENRY LAU, Oh My Venus), experience joy and heartbreak, music and laughter, and a few really good belly rubs.
Directed by two-time Emmy Award winner GAIL MANCUSO (TV’s Modern Family), A Dog’s Journey is produced by GAVIN POLONE (A Dog’s Purpose, Zombieland) and written by returning screenwriters W. BRUCE CAMERON & CATHRYN MICHON and MAYA FORBES & WALLY WOLODARSKY, based on the best-selling novel by Cameron. The film, from Amblin Entertainment and Reliance Entertainment, in association with Walden Media and Alibaba Pictures, is distributed by Universal Pictures domestically, and by Universal and Amblin Partners internationally.
Mancuso’s talented collaborators include cinematographer ROGIER STOFFERS (The House with a Clock in Its Walls, Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan), production designer ERIC FRASER (The Journey Home, The Girl in the Photographs), editor ROBERT KOMATSU (TV’s The X-Files, Jobs), costume designer PATTI HENDERSON (A Dog’s Purpose, Siberia) and composer MARK ISHAM (The Accountant, 42).
A Dog’s Journey is executive produced by SETH WILLIAM MEIER (Happy Death Day), LASSE HALLSTRÖM (A Dog’s Purpose, The Hundred-Foot Journey), LUYUAN FAN (Last Letter) and WEI ZHANG (Factory Boss).
THE BACKSTORY
Love of Many Lifetimes
Cameron’s Journey Begins
In 2017, audiences of the hit film A Dog’s Purpose were transfixed by the heartwarming story of hopelessly devoted dog Bailey, who happened upon the meaning of life. Through his own reincarnation, within the bodies of multiple canines over the course of many years, Bailey found his purpose in helping his beloved confused boy become a complete man. But the tale of one human and his constant best friend began several years prior, on an unexpected drive up the West Coast.
Novelist W. Bruce Cameron’s narrative is based upon a tale he wove for the woman who would become his wife: Cathryn Michon. Before the couple were married—and not long after Michon had lost her cherished canine companion—Cameron and Michon were driving up the California coast. Michon was heartbroken and seeking any meaning within loss, and Cameron began to tell her a vivid story. “I was hurting for her,” he says. “Out of nowhere, as if I downloaded it off the Internet, this tale came into my head about a dog who doesn’t actually die, but is reborn again and again and again, and develops the sense that there might be some purpose why this is happening.”
Michon was transfixed. “On our way to San Francisco, we stopped to get a latte and when I came back to the car, Bruce said, ‘I have a story to tell you,’” Michon recalls. “He started telling me the story for 90 minutes straight as he drove. I was crying so much, but through my tears I told him, ‘This story will really help people; you’re going to have to write that as a book.’”
That narrative would soon become the first of a series of worldwide best-selling books by Cameron, as well as the basis for Amblin Entertainment and Reliance Entertainment’s film of the same name. Michon would become not only his wife, but also his fellow A Dog’s Purpose and A Dog’s Journey screenwriter. Through Cameron’s moving fable, millions of fans saw themselves and animals they had loved over their own lifetimes. They were drawn to the inspirational journeys of love and loss we experience with a beloved pet, one who gives us unconditional support and brings a greater sense to our own humanity.
Prior to penning the novel A Dog’s Purpose and the smash follow-up A Dog’s Journey, Cameron came to fame as the writer of the best-selling humor tome “8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.” The book was adapted into a hugely popular ABC sitcom, which starred the late John Ritter and Katey Sagal and introduced the world to the comedic force of nature that is The Big Bang Theory’s Kaley Cuoco. But it would be his saga of Bailey and his boy Ethan that would skyrocket Cameron to the top of many a best-sellers’ list.
After a great deal of persistence (animals being reincarnated was not exactly at the top of publishers’ wish lists at the time), Cameron saw A Dog’s Purpose published in 2010, where it spent 63 weeks on The New York Times Best Sellers list. Remaining an international bestseller, it has since been translated into 33 languages and published in 36 different countries worldwide.
The novel’s sequel, A Dog’s Journey, was published in 2012, and together the two books have sold more than five million copies in the United States alone. Based on the first story, the first film was vaulted to more than $200 million worldwide.
At the request of Michon and Cameron, Gavin Polone—whose decades of experience as a producer resulted in hits from Panic Room to Zombieland—read the book while it was still in galley form. He then shepherded the series through the development process, where it drew the attention of Amblin Partners.
“We wanted to find a producer to take the book to the next step and Gavin has such a great reputation for protecting writers, so we sent the book to him,” Cameron says. “The first book came out in 2010, and the movie came out in 2017; Gavin has been fighting for it the entire time.”
The author appreciated having a producer who was such a fierce advocate of his vision. “To a novelist adapting his own work, moviemaking is like they’re off assembling a Ferrari in the dark,” Cameron says. “You see nothing until the moment the thing drives out of the front door.”
Polone, a longtime animal-welfare supporter and dog lover, understands that the long journey has been deeply worth it. Just as it had with his longtime friend, Michon, the adventure began the moment Polone heard Bailey’s tale. “When Cathryn told me about the first book way back when, I didn’t want to get involved because I knew the subject matter would get me emotional—which at the time I didn’t think was the best way to make a movie,” Polone says, laughing. “But she was persistent, telling me over and over again that I was the right producer for Bruce’s book.”