A Dog’s Purpose | Entertainment News, Photos, and Videos

M. Night Shyamalan‘s horror flick Split easily kept the No. 1 box office spot with $26.3 million.

The film, starring James McAvoy, has made $78 million domestically so far, according to THR.

Taking the second spot was the controversial film A Dog’s Purpose, starring Britt Robertson and KJ Apa, which earned $18.3 million.

Coming in at No. 3 was Hidden Figures, starring Janelle Monae, Octavia Spencer, and Taraji P. Henson, which made an additional $14 million for a domestic total of $104 million.

Rounding out the top five were Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and La La Land, which earned $13.8 million and $12 .1million, respectively.

WHAT DID YOU SEE at the movies this weekend??

A Dog’s Purpose producer and animal activist Gavin Polone is saying the dog featured in the viral video from their set was not in danger.

After viewing the video in its entirety, Gavin explained that he believes the video was edited with an agenda in attempt to make money.

“I looked at the video of all of this. (The dog) gets under the froth of the water but he is lifted up by the diver. He came up and he was fine. If your stated goal is to never use any animal on a movie set ever again, then they are trying to use the video that someone probably sold to TMZ to get a commitment for that,” Gavin explained.

He added, “I’m not saying there were no mistakes made but the whole thing is becoming untrue and unfair, and I feel like they and the person who cut the cellphone video together are using the media for their own agendas…There are so many things that you don’t see…there are raised platforms under the water. There is a (scuba) diver under the water. You don’t see the safety people on the other side.”

READ MORE ABOUT THE A DOG’S PURPOSE CONTROVERSY:

• VIDEO: Watch the disturbing of the scared dog seemingly being forced into the pool
• REACTION: Actor Josh Gad, who voices the dog, has spoken out

Click inside to read the rest of the message from the producer…
More Here! »

KJ Apa, one of the young stars of the new movie A Dog’s Purpose, has responded to the controversial video that shows one of the animals in the film seemingly being forced to perform a stunt in water.

The 19-year-old actor, who will also star in The CW’s upcoming series Riverdale based on the Archie comics, released a statement on Twitter.

KJ says he did not experience anything like what was seen in the video while on set.

“First things first, I LOVE ALL ANIMALS and would never EVER condone inhumane treatment or abuse of an animal at any time. I was saddened to see the footage from the set of A Dog’s Purpose – a film I was honored to act in, in 2015,” KJ began his statement.

Click inside to read the rest of the statement… More Here! »

The premiere and press junket of the upcoming movie A Dog’s Purpose have been canceled after a disturbing video from set surfaced.

The video showed a German Shepherd seemingly being forced into a pool to perform a stunt, seemingly against his will. Another clip from set showed the dog submerged in water and someone on set yelling cut while people rushed to bring the dog above water.

“Because Amblin’s review into the edited video released yesterday is still ongoing, distributor Universal Pictures has decided it is in the best interest of A Dog’s Purpose to cancel this weekend’s premiere and press junket. Amblin and Universal do not want anything to overshadow this film that celebrates the relationship between animals and humans,” the studio said in a statement.

“Since the emergence of the footage, Amblin has engaged with many associated with the production of the film, including safety personnel, trainers and stunt coordinators as part of their in-depth review. While we are all disheartened by the appearance of an animal in distress, everyone has assured us that Hercules the German Shepherd was not harmed throughout the filmmaking,” the statement continued. “We continue to support this film, are incredibly proud of it and will release it for audiences nationwide next Friday.”

READ MORE ABOUT THE A DOG’S PURPOSE CONTROVERSY:

• VIDEO: Watch the disturbing of the scared dog seemingly being forced into the pool
• REACTION: Actor Josh Gad, who voices the dog, has spoken out
• PRODUCERS RESPOND: Here’s what the people who made the movie said

• The producers are defending their actions amid the viral video showing the very scared dog on set – TMZ
• one of the Fifth Harmony members was sick for their first performance as 4 – Just Jared Jr
• See the red carpet photos from the People’s Choice Awards – Gossip Cop
• Have you seen Sebastian Stan‘s mustache? – Lainey Gossip
• Chrissy Teigen has the best attitude towards her stretch marks – TooFab
• What is Obama‘s greatest legacy? – MTV
• Is this Demi Lovato‘s new boyfriend – Popsugar

Josh Gad has taken to social media to respond to the leaked video of a German Shepherd dog named Hercules reluctantly being forced into filming a scene for his film A Dog’s Purpose.

The 35-year-old actor watched the controversial video, which was released via TMZ and shows the dog not wanting to go into turbulent waters.

“I signed on for a film that truly stands out as one of the most beautiful love letters to animals I have ever seen,” Josh wrote on Facebook. “Today, however, I saw a disturbing video that appears to show a scared German Shepherd being forced to perform a stunt on the set of this film.”

“While I do not know all the details and cannot speak to the level of care and caution that went into this moment (as I was never on set for the making of this film), I am shake and sad to see any animal put in a situation against its will,” he continued.

Josh added, “As a proud dog owner and a fervent supporter of organizations like PETA, I have reached out to the production team and studio to ask for an explanation.”

The director, Lasse Hallstrom, took to Twitter to express his concern as well.

“I am very disturbed by the video released today from the set of my film A Dog’s Purpose. I did not witness these actions, which are unacceptable and would never happen with my knowledge,” he wrote. “We were all committed to providing a loving, respectful and safe environment for all the animals in the film. I have been promised that a thorough investigation into this situation is underway and that any wrongdoing will be reported and punished.”

Click inside to read all of the directors’ tweets…More Here! »

A Dog’s Purpose has found an enemy in PETA.

In a recently released video obtained by TMZ, a German Shepherd was forced into rough and turbulent waters in order to film a scene for the upcoming film.

In the video below, you can see the the trainer continuously attempt to put the dog in the water as it tries to crawl it’s way out of the wave-induced pool.

After the dog eventually got into the water, it was quickly submerged before the director ended the scene.

Off-camera, you can hear a crew member laugh at the dog’s resistance before saying, “You just got to throw him in.”

PETA – the animals rights organization group – released a statement calling on people to boycott the film.

“PETA is calling on dog lovers to boycott the film in order to send the message that dogs and other animals should be treated humanely, not as movie props,” the group said in the statement.

A Dog’s Purpose is set to be released on January 27.

Warning: the video may be disturbing to some viewers.