Hotel for Dogs

Hotel for Dogs is a 2009 American family comedy film directed by Thor Freudenthal in his directorial debut, and based on the 1971 novel of the same name by Lois Duncan. Starring Jake T. Austin, Emma Roberts, Kyla Pratt, Lisa Kudrow, Kevin Dillon and Don Cheadle, the film tells the story of two orphaned siblings (living in foster care), who secretly take in stray dogs along with their family dog at a vacant hotel. The film is Nickelodeon's second film to be produced by DreamWorks Pictures 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 began. Nearly eighty boys auditioned for the role of Bruce before Austin was ultimately selected. The film was released in theaters on January 16, 2009 by DreamWorks Pictures, and was a box office success grossing $117 million worldwide. Plot Andi and Bruce swindle a pawn shop owner in order to buy food for their dog, Friday. However, they are quickly caught and brought to the police station where they get picked up by their social worker Bernie Wilkins who takes them back to their foster parents, Lois and Carl Scudder, who do not appear to care for either Andi, Bruce, or their dog. Despite his sympathy for the siblings, Bernie warns them against deliberately getting into trouble in order to escape their foster parents. The next morning, Friday leaves to look for food, only to be caught by Animal Control. Andi and Bruce go into a local pet shop to see if anybody has seen him, and meet Dave and Heather, who advise them to check the pound. They learn that Friday is there but cannot be claimed without their parents present, so they bribe the guard to get Friday back. While walking home, they flee from a crime scene and find Friday taking shelter in an abandoned hotel, where they find a tiny Boston Terrier and an English Mastiff. They name them Georgia and Lenny and leave Friday at the hotel for the night.