Returns to theaters with Dog, a comedy with Sandra Bullock and a new Magic Mike movie

by Jake Coyle for Elvocero

Channing Tatum hasn’t starred in a movie since 2017’s Logan Lucky. It’s a baffling pause for one of Hollywood’s top stars: an actor who has gracefully, sillyly, and sometimes shirtlessly redefined male cinematic stardom.

His five-year hiatus ended this week with the premiere of Dog, in which he plays Briggs, a U.S. Army Ranger, who takes a fallen soldier’s dog to his funeral. Then will follow the comedy The Lost City with Sandra Bullock.

But returning to the spotlight, he says he never really intended to disappear: “I didn’t walk away thinking, ‘I’m leaving here.'”

In recent years, Tatum premiered the traveling show Magic Mike Live and wrote a children’s book inspired by his eight-year-old daughter, Everly. In 2018, he and his wife Jenna Dewan, whom he met on the set of 2006’s Step Up, reported their separation after nine years. Meanwhile, Tatum had fleeting screen appearances, making a handful of cameos and voice dubbing.

“Time just vanished… Really, being a father dragged me down for almost four years. I got a little lost doing that,” he admitted.

“I performed for almost ten years and I needed to take a step back… My career was my whole life. It was all about what I was going to do with my career,” he said.