A surprising Kevin Hart movie is dominating Netflix today. The Secret Life of Pets 2 isn’t a new release on the streaming service, as it’s been available for a while now, but for some reason, viewers are loving the 2019 animated flick from Illumination at the moment, as it’s trending on Netflix’s Top 10 most-watched films list, coming in at #6.
A sequel to the smash hit 2016 original, Pets 2 features an all-star cast voicing the animals of New York. Most of the players from the first film returned to reprise their roles for this one, including Kevin Hart as standout character Snowball, a rabbit who dreams of being a superhero. Other returnees include Jenny Slate, Lake Bell, Eric Stonestreet, Dana Carvey and Hannibal Buress.
A big change, though, is the lead. Patton Oswald took over as main character Max the dog, after Louis C.K. portrayed him the first time around. C.K. was removed from the sequel in response to the sexual misconduct scandal that emerged while it was in production. Other big names brought in for the follow-up, meanwhile, include Nick Kroll, Tiffany Haddish and none other than Harrison Ford, in what was his first ever role in an animated movie.
The Secret Life of Pets 2 follows Max as he deals with the arrival of his owner’s baby son and the eccentric new animals he meets at a farm the family visits. Reviews were less favorable, though not massively so, than the first movie, and it proved to fall far short of expectations at the box office. The 2016 flick earned a whopping $875 million, but the second one brought in just $430 million. It still turned a profit for the studio, then, but it failed to claw back even a half of what its predecessor made.
It seems like a lot of Netflix users are just looking for some good-natured family-friendly fun this Friday, though, and Pets 2 definitely does the job on that front.
