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Poster for Wag the Dog
New Line Cinema On streaming

Wag the Dog

1997 97 min English R

“A comedy about truth, justice and other special effects.”

During the final weeks of a presidential race, the President is accused of sexual misconduct. To distract the public until the election, the President's adviser hires a Hollywood producer to help him stage a fake war.

Cast

101 people

Barry Levinson Director · David Mamet Screenplay

Worldwide gross $64M · Budget $15M · United States release December 25, 1997

Box office

Budget

$15,000,000

Worldwide gross

$64,256,513

Gross vs. budget

4.3×

Production

N

New Line Cinema

Production · Studio

T

Tribeca Productions

Production

B

Baltimore Pictures

Production

P

Punch Productions

Production

United States

Produced in

Languages

Original language

English

Spoken on screen

Albanian · English

Release dates

Norway · December 25, 1997

TV

United States · December 25, 1997

Limited theatrical

Australia

March 5, 1998 · Theatrical

Austria

November 6, 2000 · TV · ORF 1

Czechia

July 16, 1998 · Theatrical

France

April 29, 1998 · Theatrical

March 27, 2000 · TV · Canal+

September 4, 2003 · TV · France 3

November 6, 2026 · Digital · France.tv

November 6, 2026 · TV · France 5

Germany

March 26, 1998 · Theatrical

November 6, 2000 · TV · ZDF

Italy

April 10, 1998 · Theatrical

Netherlands

April 23, 1998 · Theatrical

June 6, 2003 · TV · Nederland 1

Portugal

May 8, 1998 · Theatrical

Russia

August 31, 1998 · Theatrical

South Korea

September 12, 1998 · Theatrical

Sweden

December 25, 1997 · Theatrical

Switzerland

August 8, 2002 · TV · SF zwei

More from Barry Levinson

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