Dad (BANDIT), Mum (CHILLI), Bluey, Bingo (BLUEY’S SISTER). (Credit: Ludo Studio)
Ludo Studio
Children’s entertainment phenomenon Bluey is coming to the big screen, as announced at last weekend’s Disney D23 event.
Since debuting in 2018, Bluey has grown from an Australian animated series into a multibillion-dollar global franchise. For two consecutive years, Bluey has been the No. 1 most-streamed title in the U.S., according to Nielsen data. In 2025 alone, viewers streamed the show for 45.2 billion minutes.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – AUGUST 02: View of atmosphere and signage during “PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie” Global Premiere and Family Day at Paramount Pictures Studios on August 02, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)
Getty Images for Paramount Pictures
Meanwhile, last weekend, Paramount’s Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie opened to No. 4 at the box office, grossing $20.5 million domestically, not far behind Warner Bros.’s own dinosaur movie for older audiences, The End of Oak Street.
The Dino Movie is the third Paw Patrol feature film. The first two, The Paw Patrol Movie and Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie were major financial successes, grossing $144.3 million and $205 million, respectively, even with The Paw Patrol Movie having a simultaneous streaming release on Paramount+.
As Bluey prepares to make its theatrical debut, the Paw Patrol franchise offers a blueprint for how to elevate a popular preschool show into box office success.
Movies like Paw Patrol and Bluey are an experience for the whole family, as they make for ideal choices for a child’s first movie theater experience. Because of that, like Paw Patrol, a Bluey movie will need to feel bigger than an extended episode of the show.
Though little is known regarding The Bluey Movie’s plot, the teaser unveiled at D23 notably reveals that the movie will be computer-animated, rather than the 2D style that the show uses, establishing a visual distinction from the show.
The Paw Patrol movies take advantage of the longer runtime allowed in a feature film by expanding on character development and storylines introduced in the show. Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie, for example, builds on a special episode of the series, in which the Paw Patrol pups gain superpowers.
Each Paw Patrol movie centers on a different dog in the Patrol, using plotlines of superpowers and dinosaurs while retaining the show’s emotional identity, exploring themes that children can relate to, such as learning how to overcome obstacles and that smallness does not equal weakness.
If Bluey becomes a theatrical franchise, it already has plenty of supporting characters to anchor future movies and spinoffs. It also has the rare ability to offer a story that is both a spectacle for its young audience and emotionally resonant to the adults that brought them to the theater.
A key reason that the Bluey show has been so successful is because parents can both relate to and learn from Bluey’s parents Chili and Bandit, just as much as children can from Bluey herself.
Bluey is a show that the whole family can watch together and enjoy, instead of one that parents turn on and tolerate to keep their children occupied. This family togetherness that Bluey cultivates is the franchise’s key selling point, and what it will attempt to bring from the living room couch into the movie theater next year.
The Bluey Movie comes to theaters on August 6, 2027.
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