Lionsgate has acquired the Chinese/American co-production Rock Dog for release through its Summit Premiere label. The film will debut in American theaters on February 24, 2017.
Rock Dog is notable for being the most expensive 100% Chinese-financed animated production of all-time, with reports of up to a $60 million production cost. In one of the first examples of reverse-outsourcing in American feature animation, the Chinese backers farmed out the entire production to Dallas-based Reel FX, the company that produced Free Birds and The Book of Life.
Rock Dog was conceived by Chinese rockstar Zheng Jun who wrote and illustrated a popular graphic novel upon which the film is based. The film follows the story of Bodi (Luke Wilson), a Tibetan Mastiff, who dreams of following in the footsteps of Angus Scattergood, a British cat musician.