Paws Of Fury: The Legend Of Hank

***Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank*** is a 2022 computer-animated martial arts comedy film produced by Nickelodeon Movies and directed by Rob Minkoff, Mark Koetsier, and Chris Bailey (in Koetsier and Bailey's feature directorial debut), The film is a loose remake of the 1974 live-action film *Blazing Saddles,* It features the voices of Michael Cera, Ricky Gervais, Mel Brooks, George Takei, Aasif Mandvi, Gabriel Iglesias, Djimon Hounsou, Michelle Yeoh, and Samuel L. Jackson.

it was distributed by Sky Cinema in the UK, Groupe M6 (SND) in France, Huayi Brothers in China and Paramount Pictures everywhere else.

### Premiere date

July 10, 2022 (Los Angeles), July 15, 2022, July 22, 2022 (Sky Cinema)

### Produced by

Rob Minkoff, Adam Nagle, Peter Nagle, Guy Collins, Yair Landau, Susan Purcell

## Plot

In a land inspired by feudal Japan and entirely inhabited by cats, Ika Chu, a conniving high ranking official of the land's Shogun, desires to expand his giant palace. However, it resides right next to the impoverished village of Kakamucho. Hoping to get rid of it, Ika Chu plans to force Kakamucho's residents to abandon their town by sending a gang of thugs led by his second-in-hand Ohga to trash the town. The townspeople demand that the Shogun appoint a new samurai to protect them after the previous one flees. Ika Chu, hoping to offend the townspeople, decides to appoint Hank, a dog prisoner about to be executed, as Kakamucho's samurai.

After an initial hostile reception, Hank relies on the assistance of Jimbo, a catnip-addled samurai who reluctantly agrees to train him, in order to overcome the townspeople's hostility. While training with Jimbo, Hank manages to subdue Sumo, an immensely strong, dim-witted, yet philosophical henchman that Ika Chu sent to drive out the townspeople quicker. The townspeople see Hank as a hero, but his newfound popularity ends up going to Hank's head, and he neglects his training, which causes a fallout between him and Jimbo. Ika Chu takes Hank to a private nightclub, in order to distract him as his thugs trash Kakamucho. Hank returns to a devastated town and after a heated argument with both Jimbo and the cat townspeople he finds had enough and decides to return home, but an origami figure of himself reminds him of his samurai oath.

Jimbo, meanwhile, attempts to storm Ika Chu's palace in hopes to free Sumo, who was captured by Ika Chu's goons. Hank returns in order to help him out. Upon hearing about Sumo's escape, Ika Chu recruits an army of thugs to get rid of Kakamucho for good. Hank returns to Kakamucho, and explains his plan to defeat Ika Chu's army. The townspeople then build a perfect paper copy of the town and themselves as a diversion. When the raiders attack the fake town and its population of dummies, which have been booby-trapped with dynamite, Hank ignites the bombs and the townspeople attack the thugs. The Shogun arrives, who questions the fighting. Ohga accidentally exposes Ika Chu's plan to him, causing Ika Chu to flee. Hank chases Ika Chu to his palace, where he fights him on his giant jade toilet, which overflows and threatens to flood the town. Hank warns the Kakamucho townspeople of the incoming flood, and leads them in the digging of a channel to safely divert the water around the town.

With Kakamucho saved, the impressed Shogun decides to appoint Jimbo as the new samurai, but he gives the position to Hank. Hank however, feels that he is not entirely ready, so he ends up giving the position to Emiko, a kitten who also desires to be a samurai. Hank and Jimbo continue to train in their own time, with their relationship mended.

In a post-credits scene, a now imprisoned and sulking Ika Chu consoles himself that at least he will have a part in a sequel. (which will likely not happen due to the film's box office failure)

## Cast

* Michael Cera as Hank, a bumbling beagle who aspires to be a samurai, based on Sheriff Bart from *Blazing Saddles*
* Samuel L. Jackson as Jimbo, Hank's reluctant tuxedo cat sensei who trains him to become a samurai, based on Jim the Waco Kid from *Blazing Saddles*
* Ricky Gervais as Ika Chu, a warmongering Somali cat, based on Hedley LaMarr from *Blazing Saddles*
* Mel Brooks as Toshi, an empathetic British shorthair who is the shōgun of Kakamucho, essentially a reprisal of Brooks' roles as Gov. William J. Le Petomane from *Blazing Saddles*
* George Takei as Ohga, a muscular Manx cat who is the leader of Ika Chu's army, based on Taggart from *Blazing Saddles*.
* Aasif Mandvi as Ichiro, a slim tuxedo cat
* Gabriel Iglesias as Chuck, a clumsy calico cat
* Djimon Hounsou as Sumo, a giant, dim-witted, yet philosophical tabby cat, based on Mongo from *Blazing Saddles*.
* Michelle Yeoh as Yuki, an optimistic female Persian cat who is Emiko's mother
* Kylie Kuioka as Emiko, a feisty young Persian cat who also wants to become a samurai
* Cathy Shim as Little Mama, the grand dame of Kakamucho
* Michael K. Lee as Unnamed former samurai
* Jason Griffith as Doc

## Production

*Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank*, then known as *Blazing Samurai*, was initially conceived by Sony Pictures Animation co-founder and ex-chief and Mass Animation founder Yair Landau around 2010, inspired by the then-recent trend of westernizing Asian films, Originally intended to revolve around a black samurai protecting an East Asian village, the story was changed to center around cats and dogs in an effort to make the story more universal. Chris Rock at one point was considered to co-produce the film, The film was formally announced in November 2014, with GFM Films handling international sales and Rob Minkoff set to produce, The film was scripted by Ed Stone and Nate Hopper, In February 2015, Open Road Films acquired the U.S. distribution rights with Chris Bailey and Mark Koetsier attached to direct, Susan Purcell also joined the production as a producer.

In November 2019, the film was re-announced after Aniventure joined the production, The budget was $45 million ($16 million was categorized as "original equity" while the rest of the $29 million came from Aniventure and Canadian tax credits), a spin-off game was also announced to be in production, In August 2020, Adrian Politowski’s Align announced it would help executive produce and finance the film, In February 2021, a first-look revealed Landau and Purcell had been replaced by Adam Nagle and Guy Collins as producers, Chris Bailey also left the project as director at this point, to be the showrunner on *Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?*, and Rob Minkoff was promoted to director alongside Mark Koetsier, Despite this, Bailey still contractually receives credit for directing the film, as do Yair Landau and Susan Purcell for producing, In April 2022, it was announced that the film had its title changed to Paws Of Fury: The Legend Of Hank.

Arc Productions was set to provide most of the film's animation, until the company's closure in 2016. In November 2019, it was revealed that Cinesite would take over animation duties, with its Montreal facilities handling most of the production, with additional assistance from its Vancouver facilities. Much of the film was animated remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as were some of the voice recordings

In June 2021, Bear McCreary was announced to compose the musical score. The film also features two original songs by Broadway songwriters Alan Zachary & Michael Weiner: the opening titles track "Blazing Samurai" (performed by Michael K. Lee) and the end titles song "The Coolest Cat" (performed by Tony Award winner Adrienne Warren).

## Release

The film was announced to release initially on April 14, 2017 by Open Road Films but was later delayed to August 4, 2017, the film was later announced with a planned 2021 release date by Cinesite, Paramount and Huayi Brothers then delayed the film's release to July 22, 2022 before finally releasing it on July 15 instead, Sky Cinema on the other had released it on it's original July 22 date while Paramount released the film internationally on July 21, August 5, August 10, August 11 and August 12 with a planned August 25 release date for Brazil a September 29 release date for New Zealand and a October 7 release date for Norway, Groupe M6 (SND) will release the film in France on October 12.

## Trivia

* The film stayed in development hell for a long time (2016-2019) until it was finally brought back into production in November 2019.
* Sony Pictures was gonna distribute the film internationally before being replaced by Paramount in February 2022
* Paramount Animation was meant to distribute the film after Paramount bought the rights back in February 2022 however it was instead released under the family-friendly Nickelodeon Movies label and Paramount Pictures instead.
* The version released in the United Kingdom by Sky Cinema has a few notable differences from the release by Paramount Pictures. A joke is added in the opening about Ika Chu having the first and second “largest balls of yarn”. Ironically, the footage for this scene is in the promos for the release in the United States. Lyrics are added to the instrumental that plays during the battle with Hank and Sumo. The song “Gangnam Style” replaces the song Delirious during the club scene. This creates a small continuity error, as Hank still whistles the tune of Gangnam Style in both versions.
	+ Funnily enough, the movie was released in the US exactly ten years after "Gangam Style" was released online, so it's inclusion could have been perfect for the US release as a nice little 10 year homenage.
* Michael Cera is set to be voicing anothing Paramount main protagonist character role (although unintentionally) with Armen in Under The Boardwalk set to be released by Paramount Animation this October.
* This is one of those movies where the protagonist does not have a love interest/crush. (although Hank does share a flirty moment with Yuki at one point in the film, they are still not confirmed to be dating/in love)
* The film is rated PG-13 in Latin America for additional bad/curse word language.
* The film was a box office flop gaining $20.5 million from the $45 million budget given to the film.
* The film was attached in theaters with a short based on Big Nate called Bad Hamster, the short had mixed reception from critics and fans of the 2021 Paramount+/TV series from Nickelodeon.
* It's unknown if Nickelodeon will greenlight a TV series based on the film however since the film flopped, it's unlikely to happen. (and while Paramount Animation's Wonder Park was supposed to get a TV series from Nickelodeon in 2020, that was announced before the film became a flop in the box office)
* Ika Chu jokes about him at least appearing/having a role in the sequel, however since the film flopped in the box office, that "sequel" he's talking/joking about will likely never happen/be made, produced and get the greenlight.
* The film is filled with a lot of fourth wall break jokes including Hank saying the movie is almost over (except counting credits), him also saying if a flashback is gonna play or when he says to go the end of the training montage to Jimbo, another one is when after destroying the title card, Ohga asks "where did that come from" and one of the cats tells him that it comes from the marketing departament.
* The original teaser poster from 2015/2016 included Sumo standing with a Hello Kitty pin, this was later removed likely due to licensing issues with Sanrio (owners of Hello Kitty) and the poster was released without the pin.
* The film is bundled with Rango on it's digital 2 movie pack release, something that is dumb since Rango is a really great film, it instead should have been bundled with Wonder Park since that film also flopped in the box office and is in the same level as Paws Of Fury: The Legend Of Hank. (average/ok/good)
* Like Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (a masterpiece of a film) with it's Emerald Hill Zone remix, the film had it's own promotional song that ultimately never released to the public or was featured in the movie, in this case being the "Paws of Fury Theme Song"
* In the Latin American version, there is an exclusive joke that is related with the film's title in the region (La Leyenda de Kakamucho) where in the hearing scene Hank says "Hay un excusado, por que parece que vuele a Kakamucho" which is a title pun at "looks like it smells like poop" as Kakamucho sounds a lot like "caca" which is poop in latin american spanish.
* This is the first Paramount animated movie in a long time to not release in-store merch. (which is understandable as Paramount got the rights in February 2022 and the film was meant to be released in exactly five months, so merch couldn't be produced fast, however t-shirts were produced by Paramount's merchandisng team during that time and were released on Amazon exclusively online)
* The film was meant to be released on home media on October 11, 2022 but will instead release one week later on October 18. (the same day Paramount Animation's Rumble releases on home media)
* A spin-off game was planned to be released by GFM Animation in 2021 but was likely cancelled after Paramount bought the rights to the movie in February 2022.
* Rob Minkoff, one of the film's directors, was known for directing films such as *The Lion King* and *Mr. Peabody and Sherman*.
* Originally, the story was intended to revolve around a black samurai protecting an East Asian village, but it was changed to center around cats and dogs in an effort to make the story more universal.
* Prior to company's closure in 2016, Arc Productions was originally set to provided the animation. After the company was shut down, Cinesite were officially provided the animation instead.
* The teaser trailer was promised to be released on April 9, 2022 but it instead released online on April 11.
* The film had a second official Facebook account under the original Blazing Samurai name (https://www.facebook.com/blazingsamuraithemovie/) that became inactive once Paramount changed the name to Paws Of Fury: The Legend Of Hank and created the new main account. (https://www.facebook.com/PawsofFuryMovie)

## Gallery

### Promotional

Teaser poster #1 (2022)DBOX promotional posterRussian posterRussian bannerCambodian posterNorwegian posterFrench poster (Groupe M6)
## Videos

Paws of Fury- The Legend of Hank - Official Trailer (2022 Movie) – Paramount PicturesPaws of Fury- The Legend of Hank - Official Trailer 2 (2022 Movie) – Paramount Pictures