# The Secret Life of Pets (franchise)

The Secret Life of Pets is an American media franchise created by Illumination. Directed by Chris Renaud, the franchise stars the voices of Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart, Jenny Slate, Ellie Kemper, Lake Bell, Dana Carvey, Tara Strong, Hannibal Buress, and Bobby Moynihan, among others. The first film, The Secret Life of Pets, was released on July 8, 2016 and received positive reviews from critics. The second film, The Secret Life of Pets 2, was released on June 7, 2019 in the US and received mixed reviews from critics. The series has grossed $1.3 billion so far.
The films follow a group of domesticated house pets who embark on various adventures outside the comfort of their apartment complex.

## Films
### The Secret Life of Pets (2016)

Max's luck changes when his owner Katie brings home a new dog named Duke. They have to put their differences aside when they get lost in New York in order to stop a rebellious group of abandoned pets and return home.

### The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019)

Max and Duke's owner Katie now has a child named Liam, which causes Max to become excessively protective, but a road trip to the countryside will change his mind. Meanwhile, a reformed Snowball helps a white tiger named Hu find refuge from an abusive circus owner.

### The Secret Life of Pets 3

In March 2022, in an interview on the podcast The Gary and Kenny Show, Chris Meledandri, CEO of Illumination, stated that a third film is in development.

## Short films
### Norman Television (2016)

Included as a mini-movie on The Secret Life of Pets' home media release, the short focuses around Norman from the film as he wanders the vents of Max's apartment and watches various scenarios of the residents.

### Weenie (2016)

Included as the second mini-movie on The Secret Life of Pets' home media release, it features a world of anthropomorphic sausages in which the Mayor shows a little sausage named Timmy how great it is to be a weenie.

### Super Gidget (2019)

Included as a mini-movie on The Secret Life of Pets 2's home media release, the plot focuses on Gidget imagining herself as a superhero and saving Max from an army of squirrels.

## Video games
### The Secret Life of Pets: Unleashed

A free-to-play mobile game developed by Electronic Arts, titled The Secret Life of Pets: Unleashed, was released in summer 2016. It was a match-3 game which featured the characters as one has its own level. In the game the players could combine different toys to earn points. The game was removed from the App Store and Google Play Store on May 22, 2017, the same day as Minions Paradise.

## Theme park attraction

In April 2019, Universal Studios Hollywood announced a new dark ride attraction entitled The Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash! which was set to open on March 27, 2020, but the opening was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The attraction eventually opened on April 16, 2021.
The ride's queue is themed after Katie's apartment, and features animatronics of Max and Duke explaining the ride's plot, which involves the park guests, now "transformed into puppies," getting ready to be adopted. The ride itself is a highly immersive dark ride with a wide assortment of special effects and over 60 animatronics of characters from the franchise. Riders exit through the gift shop, themed to a pet adoption center. Outside the building's exit, guests can chat with a live-voiced animatronic of Snowball, similar to the meet-and-greet animatronic Donkey from Shrek that is located in several Universal Parks.

## Reception
### Box office performance

| Film | Release Date | Box Office Gross | Box Office Gross | Box Office Gross | All Time Ranking | All Time Ranking | Budget | Ref. |
| Film | Release Date | Domestic | Foreign | Worldwide | Domestic | Worldwide | Budget | Ref. |
| The Secret Life of Pets | July 8, 2016 | $368,623,860 | $507,074,301 | $875,698,161 | 46 | 67 | $75 million | |
| The Secret Life of Pets 2 | June 7, 2019 | $158,980,250 | $272,184,209 | $431,164,459 | 336 | 293 | $80 million | |
| Total | Total | $527,604,110 | $779,258,510 | $1,306,862,620 | | | $155 million | |

### Critical and public response

| Film | Critical | Critical | Public | Public |
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore | PostTrak |
| The Secret Life of Pets | 70% (240 reviews) | 61 (39 reviews) | A− | 85% |
| The Secret Life of Pets 2 | 60% (164 reviews) | 55 (26 reviews) | A− | — |

## Cast and characters

| Characters | Films | Films | Short films | Short films |
| Characters | The Secret Life of Pets | The Secret Life of Pets 2 | Norman Television | Super Gidget |
| Max | Louis C.K. | Patton Oswalt | | Patton Oswalt |
| Duke | Eric Stonestreet | Eric Stonestreet | | |
| Snowball | Kevin Hart | Kevin Hart | | |
| Gidget | Jenny Slate | Jenny Slate | | Jenny Slate |
| Chloe | Lake Bell | Lake Bell | | |
| Pops | Dana Carvey | Dana Carvey | | |
| Buddy | Hannibal Buress | Hannibal Buress | | |
| Mel | Bobby Moynihan | Bobby Moynihan | | Bobby Moynihan |
| Katie | Ellie Kemper | Ellie Kemper | | |
| Norman | Chris Renaud | Chris Renaud | Chris Renaud | |
| Sweetpea | Tara Strong | Tara Strong | | |
| Tiberius | Albert Brooks | | | |
| Ozone | Steve Coogan | | | |
| Tattoo | Michael Beattie | | | |
| Molly | Kiely Renaud | Kiely Renaud | | |
| Daisy | | Tiffany Haddish | | |
| Liam | | Henry Lynch | | |
| Rooster | | Harrison Ford | | |
| Sergei | | Nick Kroll | | |
| Lead Wolf | | Michael Beattie | | |
| Cat Lady | | Meredith Salenger | | |
| Chuck | | Pete Holmes | | |
| Harold | | | Danny Mann | |
| Marilyn | | | Lori Alan | |
| Infestor | | | | Gilbert Gottfried |

### Crew

| Role | Main films | Main films |
| Role | The Secret Life of Pets | The Secret Life of Pets 2 |
| Directed by | Chris Renaud | Chris Renaud |
| Directed by | Co-director: Yarrow Cheney | Co-director: Jonathan del Val |
| Produced by | Chris Meledandri Janet Healy | Chris Meledandri Janet Healy |
| Written by | Cinco Paul Ken Daurio Brian Lynch | Brian Lynch |
| Music by | Alexandre Desplat | Alexandre Desplat |
| Edited by | Ken Schretzmann | Tiffany Hillkurtz |
| Production Company | Illumination | Illumination |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures | Universal Pictures |