50 Fun Facts About The Secret Life of Pets

What breed of dog is Max?

Small, wiry and jealous, he narrates the opening tour of a New York apartment building full of unsupervised pets.

What is the name of Max's owner?

Ellie Kemper voices her; in the sequel she has married a man named Chuck and had a son.

What breed is Duke, the big shaggy dog Katie adopts?

His arrival is the film's inciting incident: Max's jealousy is what gets both dogs lost in the first place.

Who voices Duke?

Best known as Cameron on Modern Family, he returned for the 2019 sequel.

Which comedian voices Snowball, the white rabbit?

He also performed one of the cover songs on the sequel's soundtrack.

What is the name of the gang of abandoned animals that Snowball leads?

They live in the drains and hate humans because their owners gave them up; the filmmakers used them to hint at the darker side of pet ownership.

What kind of animal does Snowball's gang want Max and Duke to be bitten by to prove their loyalty?

The two dogs end up accidentally killing it while escaping, which is what turns Snowball into their sworn enemy.

Which cat, a Sphynx, leads the alley cats that steal Max and Duke's collars?

Steve Coogan voices him with a Cockney accent, and also voices Reginald, the Himalayan cat in Brooklyn.

What breed of dog is Gidget, who is in love with Max?

She is white and fluffy, watches telenovelas all day, and turns out to be the most fearsome fighter in the building.

Who voices Gidget?

Slate earned an Annie Award nomination for voice acting for the sequel.

What kind of bird is Tiberius, whom Gidget recruits to help find Max?

The curmudgeonly bird of prey has to promise not to eat any of the pets he is helping.

Which Finding Nemo actor voices Tiberius?

Brooks, who voiced Marlin the clownfish, plays a bird of prey this time.

What breed of dog is Pops, the elderly dog who helps Gidget's search party?

His back legs are paralyzed, so he gets around on a wheeled cart and runs a wild party in his owner's apartment.

Which Saturday Night Live alumnus voices Pops?

Another SNL name, Bobby Moynihan, voices Mel the pug.

What kind of animal is Norman, who keeps getting lost in the building's vents?

He is voiced by the film's own director and gets his own short film, Norman Television, on the home release.

Chloe, the lazy grey tabby, is voiced by whom?

Chloe's big moment in the sequel is giving Gidget lessons in how to act like a cat.

Which character is a hyperactive pug?

Buddy, by contrast, is a laid-back miniature dachshund; the two are usually seen together.

What kind of animal is Sweet Pea?

The little green and yellow parakeet spends his alone time flying through a fan and pretending to be a fighter jet.

What was the name of Duke's previous owner?

Duke got lost chasing a butterfly and was picked up by animal control; when he finally goes back, he learns his owner has died.

Where do Max and Duke go after escaping Snowball's gang in the sewers?

The Brooklyn detour is where they go looking for Duke's old home.

Max and Snowball crash a bus into the animal control van while crossing what?

The van ends up in the East River, and Snowball dives in with the keys to Duke's cage.

What kind of animal drives the taxi that takes the pets home at the end?

Tattoo, a slow-witted tattooed pig from Snowball's gang, is voiced by Michael Beattie.

What is the name of the little girl who adopts Snowball at the end of the first film?

She is voiced by Kiely Renaud, the director's daughter, and returns as Snowball's owner in the sequel.

Who directed The Secret Life of Pets?

He came to the project in 2012 while still working on Despicable Me 2, and returned for the sequel.

Which animation studio, best known for the Minions, made the film?

Its CEO Chris Meledandri pitched the idea of a film about what pets get up to when their owners are away.

In which country was the film's animation entirely produced?

The Paris studio Mac Guff also animates the Despicable Me films.

What genre did the filmmakers briefly consider before settling on a buddy story?

The director said the team liked the premise but did not at first know what form the story should take.

Which cartoon tradition did the film follow by only occasionally showing the owners' faces?

The film's environments were also designed with a deliberately vertical, New York feel, influenced by illustrator Jean-Jacques Sempé.

Who composed the score for both Secret Life of Pets films?

The Oscar-winning French composer is better known for The Shape of Water and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Which Despicable Me short played in cinemas before the film?

Minion Scouts came later, packaged with the home release of the sequel.

The film premiered on June 16, 2016 at the animation festival held in which French town?

Annecy, in the French Alps, is the world's biggest animation festival; the film opened in U.S. theaters three weeks later.

Roughly how much did the first film gross worldwide?

Against a $75 million budget, that made it the most profitable release of 2016 by Deadline's calculation.

What was the first film's production budget?

Low budgets are the studio's trademark; Pixar and Disney features of the era routinely cost twice as much.

The Secret Life of Pets broke whose record for the biggest original animated film opening?

Pixar's film had opened to $90.4 million a year earlier; Pets also set a record opening day for an original film.

Which film pushed The Secret Life of Pets out of the number one spot in its third weekend?

It had already held off the Ghostbusters reboot the weekend before.

Which was the first film's biggest overseas market?

In Russia it became the third-highest-grossing film ever at the time, behind only Avatar and Zootopia.

Which Japanese monster film did The Secret Life of Pets knock off the top spot when it opened in Japan?

It opened on August 11, 2016, the country's first-ever Mountain Day public holiday.

Critics repeatedly compared the film to which Pixar movie?

Reviewers saw Max and Duke as Woody and Buzz all over again: a jealous favourite and a big new arrival, lost together in the city.

What grade did CinemaScore audiences give both Secret Life of Pets films?

Critics were cooler: 70% on Rotten Tomatoes for the first film and 60% for the second.

Who took over the voice of Max for The Secret Life of Pets 2?

Louis C.K. was dropped from the sequel in the wake of his 2017 misconduct admission; Oswalt was announced in April 2018.

Which Hollywood star voices Rooster, the farm dog who mentors Max in the sequel?

Rooster is a Welsh Sheepdog, and the part was widely reported as Ford's first-ever animated film role.

In the sequel, Snowball teams up with Daisy to rescue what kind of animal from a circus?

The tiger is called Hu, and he ends up living with the neighbourhood cat lady.

Who voices Daisy, the Shih Tzu, in the sequel?

She and the actor voicing Snowball both picked up Kids' Choice Award nominations for their performances.

What is the name of Max's favourite toy, which Gidget loses in the sequel?

Retrieving it from a cat-filled apartment is how Gidget accidentally becomes queen of the cats.

Who voices Sergei, the circus ringmaster villain of the sequel?

Sergei keeps a pack of wolves and a pet monkey, and Snowball fires the monkey out of a cannon.

Which webcomic creator worked on The Secret Life of Pets 2 as a creative consultant?

Inman's own comics about cats and dogs made him a natural fit for a film about pets behaving badly.

What was the sequel's opening weekend in the U.S. and Canada, less than half of the first film's?

It still finished first, ahead of the X-Men film Dark Phoenix that opened the same weekend.

What was the film's original release date before it was pushed back to early July?

The delay paid off with a $104.4 million opening, the fourth-biggest ever for Universal at the time.

Which two short films were added to the home-media release alongside Mower Minions?

Home media sales reached 3.6 million units, making it the sixth best-selling title of 2016.

In which country did the film set a record for the biggest animated opening weekend ever?

Its $4 million debut there was also the second-biggest opening for any film, behind Furious 7; in Spain it became 2016's top-grossing film.