The film is Nickelodeon's second film to be produced by DreamWorks after Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and the first Nickelodeon film ever to be produced outside of Paramount Pictures, which still distributed the film for DreamWorks. Shooting began in November 2007 and filming took place entirely in the cities of Los Angeles and Universal City, California. The dogs in the film were trained for several months before shooting. Nearly 80 boys auditioned for the role of Bruce before Austin was ultimately selected. The film was released in the United States on January 16, 2009, and grossed approximately $17 million in its opening weekend in 3,271 theaters.