Dogs truly are man’s best friend.
That’s the takeaway from the first trailer of “Heart of the Beast,” a brutal survival story with Brad Pitt and one devoted German Shepherd, that Paramount debuted at CinemaCon on Thursday. Pitt stars in the upcoming film as a former Army Special Forces soldier who has gone off the grid, but must return to civilization after his small plane crashes deep in the Alaskan wilderness.
Pitt looks like he gives a haunted performance as a man struggling with PTSD, but the true standout may be the retired service dog who protects him from bears, wolves and other beasts.
“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight that matters, it’s the size of the fight in the dog,” Pitt tells his canine BFF in the thrilling trailer.
“I’m going to get you home,” he later reassures him. “We just have to do this the hard way.”
Pitt’s words seem on the nose. In “Heart of the Beast,” his character and the dog have the climb over dizzying mountain peaks and ford raging rivers in a desperate attempt to stay alive.
The film reunites Pitt with David Ayer, the director of the 2014 World War II epic “Fury.” The cast includes Oscar-winner J.K. Simmons. Ayer is a master of visceral, stomach-churning action, having also directed the likes of “End of Watch” and “The Beekeeper.” He also directed the DC film “Suicide Squad,” an experience that sounded almost as brutal as anything he put on screen in “Heart of the Beast.”
Pitt produced “Heart of the Beast” with Damien Chazelle, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind “Whiplash” and “La La Land.”
Paramount presented the footage at CineamCon as part of its annual show-and-tell to theater owners. The studio also teased sequels to “Angry Birds,” “Paw Patrol” and “Angry Birds” and announced it was developing a follow-up to “Top Gun: Maverick.” This marks the first year at CinemaCon since David Ellison’s acquired Paramount for more than $8 billion. The mogul is currently awaiting regulatory approval for a pact to merge Warner Bros. with Paramount, which has sparked fierce debate among cinema owners, some of whom worry it will result in fewer movies for them to screen.
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