In theaters today, Strays is a live-action/CGI hybrid comedy from Universal focused on the antics of a Border Terrier named Reggie as he joins forces with other stray dogs to plot his revenge on his owner, Doug, who dumped him in the city.
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One of the many recent movies that turn kid-like concepts into adult themes with language, violence, and sexual content, Strays has been referred to as the R-rated version of Homeward Bound and Secret Life of Pets. With big-name voices including Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, and Sofia Vergara, plus a cameo by Dennis Quaid, the movie has now officially been released in the U.S. and Canada.
Filming Locations
Filming for Strays began in September 2021 and wrapped up in December of 2021 in the surrounding areas of Atlanta, Georgia. Often known as the “city of trees,” Atlanta and its suburbs are known for tree-lined streets and numerous parks, creating the perfect backdrop for misfit strays to go on an adventure to search for Reggie’s former owner.
Suburban scenes occurred in cities like Kirkwood—a historic tree-lined neighborhood less than 10 miles east of downtown Atlanta. The beauty of the historic village of Stone Mountain, 10 miles northeast of Atlanta, has caught the eyes of many movie and TV producers and provided a backdrop for many scenes filmed throughout the movie.
You may recognize Stone Mountain from scenes in Stranger Things, including the cemetery scenes and Hawthorne Woods, which are all filmed in the tree-covered hills of Stone Mountain, along with the zoo scene from The Three Stooges (2012) and Indian Island in the Fox TV series Sleepy Hollow.
The 3,200 acres of Stone Mountain Park, which is the number-one tourist attraction in Georgia, provided the backdrop for iconic scenes in Strays, including the eagle-snatching scene. (Visual effects created this in post-production for the dogs’ safety.)
The town of Stone Mountain was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000 as a “rare surviving example of a historic railroad town.” This is reflected in the movie when Reggie and his motley crew strut down the Stone Mountain Scenic Railroad tracks.
Scenes of extended-distance fetch, which were intended by Doug to get Reggie lost at the beginning of the movie, feature the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Once viewers stop laughing at the very gullible Reggie as he eats mushrooms in a forest, they may notice how the lush woods in the background add to the mushrooms’ hallucinogenic effects.
While intended to make you laugh from the opening scene to the end credits, Strays captures that sense of natural adventure that makes us all crave outdoor time with our closest friends. Post-movie, grab your crew and work off some of that popcorn as you create your own fun in the great outdoors. (Watch out for those hallucinogenic mushrooms, though.)
