'Strays': Release Date, Trailer, Cast, and Everything You Need to Know About the R-Rated Talking-Dog Comedy (2025)

In the spirit of The Secret Life of Pets, Homeward Bound, Cats & Dogs, Milo & Otis, and Mr. Peabody & Sherman; a new talking dog movie has been gifted to us, but unlike those squeaky-clean movies meant for families, Strays has a lot more of an edge. Similar to how Ted, Sausage Party, The Happytime Murders, and Good Boys took particular concepts that are traditionally seen as kid-friendly and morphed them into raunchy R-rated comedies, this new comedy looks to follow in those films' footsteps, but of course, it's much cuter.

From talking dogs that curse, a creative team that includes some of Hollywood's best and brightest when it comes to comedy both behind and in front of the camera, and a release date in the heat of summer 2023, Strays was one of the most anticipated big-screen comedies of the year. Here's your guide to Strays. Now go fetch that stick!

Editor's Note: This piece was updated on November 7, 2023.

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Strays

R

Comedy

See Also

Stray Is Getting a Big Screen Adaptation as Hit Video Game Transitions From Console to Cinema

Release Date

June 9, 2023

Director

Josh Greenbaum

Cast

Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Will Forte, Isla Fisher, Randall Park, Josh Gad, Brett Gelman, Rob Riggle, Jamie Demetriou, Sofia Vergara

Main Genre

Comedy

When Did 'Strays' Come Out?

Strays was initially slated to release on June 9, 2023. The film would've opened against Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, the seventh entry in Paramount's highly successful franchise. However, Universal ultimately decided to push the film back a little over two months to August 18, 2023, a date they previously reserved for Please Don't Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain. Strays opened up against the DC Comics movie Blue Beetle and MGM's sci-fi satire Landscape with Invisible Hand.

Typically, when a major studio slots a comedy for the summer it means they're confident in the film and that seems to be the case with Universal and Strays. Director Josh Greenbaum spoke of the film's test screenings in an interview with Collider's own Steve Weintraub.

"So yeah, our very first preview was a joy for me and the studio and everyone watching because it tested very, very well, particularly for a first screening, but also just in our climactic kind of moment, we had full applause and full hooting and hollering. I was like, "Oh, this is working." So really exciting and positive, and I can only assume, that will continue. But it was really fun and it's been a while since we did those previews."

Strays ended up having an underwhelming box office run making only $35.4 million worldwide off of a $45 million budget.

Is 'Strays' Available on Streaming?

While Universal is one of the few studios left to send some of their films to their streaming service day-and-date with theaters, or even just sending their films exclusively to streaming, Strays initially received an exclusive theatrical release.

The film became available to stream on Peacock in early October 2023.

Stream on Peacock

Once Strays leaves Peacock, it will be available to stream on Prime Video.

Watch the 'Strays' Trailers

The official trailer for Strays was released by Universal Pictures on February 8, 2023. Whilst namedropping hit comedies like 21 Jump Street and Ted, the very R-Rated trailer is full of the ragtag group of dogs dropping f-bombs, drinking alcohol, humping garden gnomes, and ingesting mushrooms. There is also a sock puppet involved because you can never go wrong with sock puppets.

A green-band trailer for Strays labeled the "Official F***ing Trailer" was released on March 15, 2023. The trailer didn't offer any new footage, but instead, it's the same as the red-band trailer, except every curse word is bleeped out with emojis covering each of the characters' mouths.

Universal released the second official trailer for Strays on July 26. While the plethora of curse words are all censored throughout the trailer, the trailer still promised all the raunchiness and crudeness that the original red-band trailer promised.

A behind-the-scenes featurette for Strays was released by Universal Pictures on July 31, featuring the cast and the film's director talking about what attracted them to the project and hinting at the film's mix of heart and crudeness.

Universal then followed up on August 3 with another featurette, this one introducing lead dog Reggie.

What Is 'Strays' About?

Strays follows Reggie, an overly peppy Border Terrier who loves his owner Doug, even though he's a beer-guzzling, abusive, heartless lowlife who wants nothing to do with the precious little pooch. When Reggie is abandoned in the city streets, he teams up with a pack of stray dogs to get revenge on Doug... by biting his penis off.

Read on for the official synopsis from Universal:

They say a dog is a man’s best friend, but what if the man is a total dirtbag? In that case, it might be time for some sweet revenge, doggy style. When Reggie (Will Ferrell), a naïve, relentlessly optimistic Border Terrier, is abandoned on the mean city streets by his lowlife owner, Doug (Will Forte; The Last Man on Earth, Nebraska), Reggie is certain that his beloved owner would never leave him on purpose. But once Reggie falls in with a fast-talking, foul-mouthed Boston Terrier named Bug (Oscar® winner Jamie Foxx), a stray who loves his freedom and believes that owners are for suckers, Reggie finally realizes he was in a toxic relationship and begins to see Doug for the heartless sleazeball that he is. Determined to seek revenge, Reggie, Bug and Bug’s pals—Maggie (Isla Fisher; Now You See Me, Wedding Crashers), a smart Australian Shepherd who has been sidelined by her owner’s new puppy, and Hunter (Randall Park; Always Be My Maybe, Aquaman), an anxious Great Dane who’s stressed out by his work as an emotional support animal—together hatch a plan and embark on an epic adventure to help Reggie find his way home … and make Doug pay by biting off the appendage he loves the most. (Hint: It’s not his foot). A subversion of the dog movies we know and love, Strays, directed by Josh Greenbaum (Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar) and written by Dan Perrault (Players, American Vandal), is a hilarious, R-rated, live-action comedy about the complications of love, the importance of great friendships, and the unexpected virtues of couch humping.

Who Stars in 'Strays'?

Strays features an impressive cast, and it's headlined by two names that are regarded as comedy royalty: Will Ferrell and Academy Award Winner Jamie Foxx. Ferrell rose to fame on the big screen with hit comedies such as Elf, the Anchorman films, Old School, Step Brothers, and Spirited. Ferrell most recently starred as the CEO Mattel in Greta Gerwig's critically acclaimed box office sensation Barbie. Ferrell lends his voice to Reggie, the main dog at the center of the film. As for Ferrell's canine counterpart, Sophie, a Border Terrier, played the role of Reggie on set, with her double being a dog named Boy.

After getting his start on In Living Color, Jamie Foxx has become one of the biggest and most talented names in Hollywood and has starred in films across all genres including Ray, Collateral, Django Unchained, Baby Driver, the Horrible Bosses films, Dreamgirls, and he played the supervillain Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man: No Way Home. Foxx most recently starred in the hit Netflix sci-fi comedy They Cloned Tyrone as well as the courtroom dramedy The Burial. In Strays, Foxx voices Bug, a Boston Terrier who takes Reggie under his wing. On set Benny, a Boston Terrier, played Bug, with his double being a dog pup named Fly.

Other members of the main cast of Strays include Will Forte (The Last Man on Earth) as Doug, one of the few human roles, Randall Park (WandaVision) as Hunter, an anxious Great Dane who wears a cone, and Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers) as Maggie, an Australian Shepard. Elsa, an Australian Shepherd, played Maggie on set, with her backup being a dog named Riley. A Great Dane named Dalin played Hunter on set.

The cast list of Strays doesn't end there either, the film also stars Josh Gad (Frozen) as Gus, the Labrador Retriever, Harvey Guillén (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish) as Shitstain, a Chihuahua, Rob Riggle (21 Jump Street) as Rolf, a German Shepherd, Brett Gelman (Stranger Things) as Willy, a cruel Animal Control officer, Jamie Demetriou (The Afterparty) as Chester, a bulldog, and Sofia Vergara (Modern Family) as Dolores The Couch. The film also features Dennis Quaid (The Day After Tomorrow) making a cameo as himself.

Who Is Making 'Strays'?

Serving as the director of Strays is Josh Greenbaum. Greenbaum rose to prominence by directing documentaries such as The Short Game, Becoming Bond, and Too Funny to Fail: The Life & Death of the Dana Carvey Show. He later made his feature directorial debut with the 2021 cult hit comedy Barb & Star Go to Vista del Mar which starred Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo, and Jamie Dornan.

The film's screenplay comes from Dan Perrault who co-created the short-lived but beloved Netflix mockumentary series American Vandal as well as the Paramount+ mockumentary series Players, he also serves as a producer on the film. Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the duo known for the Jump Street films, The Lego Movie, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse serve as producers on the film alongside Aditya Sood (Cocaine Bear), Erik Feig (Cha Cha Real Smooth), and Louis Leterrier (Fast X).

Dara Taylor (Barb & Star Go to Vista del Mar) composed the score for the film while Tim Orr (Fleishman Is in Trouble) served as the cinematographer.

When Did 'Strays' Film?

Strays was filmed back in September 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia and production wrapped the following December. An effects-heavy film such as Strays usually has an extensive post-production process, but Greenbaum revealed to Collider in February 2023, that filming was 100% complete.

"We're done. Yeah, we are finished, which feels nice. It was a long post because of all the VFX. We had enough time to keep, like I mentioned, rewriting, and depending on what the dogs did in the footage versus what… You know, we might see a shot and say, "Oh, there's a joke we can use from that weird moment that happened," or whatever improv happened with the actors. But no, we're all finished."

Interestingly, while Ferrell, Foxx, Fisher, and Park weren't on the set for the film, Greenbaum tried to get them to record all of their lines together.

"Maybe one aspect that [is] surprising to the average person is, I worked really hard once we got our incredible cast together – Will Ferrell and Jamie Fox and Isla Fisher and Randall Park – I got them together for most of their voice sessions. That was really important to me. I don't know if there was a session with Will or Jamie where at least the other person wasn't there, because they're the two main characters, and that was really huge."

Why Is 'Strays' Rated R?

As previously mentioned and as you can probably tell from the trailer, Strays is rated R, so it might be best to not let your little ones watch this raunchy new comedy. As can be seen on the film's official poster and on the thumbnail for the trailer the film is rated R for pervasive language, crude and sexual content, and drug use. Woof.