Trivia / Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank

• All-Star Cast: The cast includes Michael Cera, Samuel L. Jackson, Ricky Gervais, Michelle Yeoh, Djimon Hounsou and Mel Brooks.
• Box Office Bomb: The film only made $41.7 million against its $45 million budget, thanks in no small part to having to compete with Minions: The Rise of Gru.
• Channel Hop:
  • More like an animation studio hop, as animation for the film was originally set to be produced by Arc Productions. However, their bankruptcy in 2016 caused the animation to instead be produced by Cinesite.
  • In a straighter case, the film was originally going to be distributed by Open Road Films in the US. However, Open Road fell into bankruptcy later on as the film was in development. Paramount acquired the rights in 2022, who released it under their Nickelodeon Movies label.
• Fake Nationality: The film is clearly Japanese-inspired, but none of the main cast members are Japanese actors. (George Takei comes closest, being born in America to Japanese parents.)
• International Coproduction: The film is a co-production between Britain, America and China with the animation being handled in Canada.
• Release Date Change: The original release date was supposed to be as early as April 14, 2017, but it got pushed down to July 15, 2022 due to production complications.
• Saved from Development Hell: The film was first announced in 2015, but it was finished in 2021 and released in July 2022.
• Schedule Slip: The release date for the film was changed three times, apparently due to a few roadblocks during production. It was originally set for April 2017, then August 2017, and then May 2018. Finally, it was officially announced that the film would be released in July 2022 (a year after production was finished) after Paramount Pictures picked up the rights to the film in some regions (including the US).
• Troubled Production: It was originally announced in 2015 with a 2017 release date; however, the film's production immediately hit a snag when the original producer went bankrupt. While a new producer was eventually found, little else was heard about the status of the film until November 2019, when it was announced that production on the film was going back on track and that it would have a tentative summer 2021 release date. While the film would be delivered by that date, it was then decided that the film wouldn't be released until the next year. In January 2022, Paramount would acquire the film and immediately set a theatrical release date of July 22 (later 15) for it (the film arguably serving as a slot replacement for their film Under The Boardwalk, which was set to release around that time but was abruptly removed from Paramount's release schedule in a concurrent move).
• Working Title: Blazing Samurai, which was featured on many of the film's posters for its planned release dates before eventually changing to Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank in 2022.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Early press releases listed Melanie Brown as part of the cast, playing a giraffe who believed that she was a cat.
  • Also, Sandra Tsing Loh and then-newcomer Heavenly Joy Jenkins were going to be in the film but were later recast in the final film. Likely due to Mel B's character being cut after it was saved from Development Hell.
  • Hank was originally supposed to be a Jack Russell Terrier as seen on early promotional art. But he later changed into a dachshund until ultimately becoming a beagle. This happened because the producers wanted a more charismatic breed fitting Hank's character.

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