In light of the leaked video showing a dog nearly drowning on set, Universal and Amblin have cancelled the weekend’s A Dog’s Purpose premiere.

It is “in the best interest of A Dog’s Purpose to cancel this weekend’s premiere and press junket,” write Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment in a joint statement.

This announcement comes following the leak of a shocking video from the set in which one of the dog ‘actors’ is being forced into water against its will, and appears to nearly drown before being pulled back out.

Not only does this video depict what appears to be a terrible mistreatment of an animal, which is never okay, but considering that A Dog’s Purpose is a movie ostensibly about the wonder of dogs, the leak of this video was practically the worst thing that could happen.

Understandably, the video was met with massive outrage, with PETA launching a campaign to boycott the movie, and director Lasse Hallström and voice actor Josh Gad both issuing statements expressing their disappointment and shock at the incident.

Amblin and Universal, likely very concerned about how this video will impact the movie’s box office standing, claim that they’ve called off the weekend’s premiere and press junket because they “do not want anything to overshadow this film that celebrates the relationship between animals and humans.”

The movie is still scheduled to hit cinemas on January 27, by which time the studios probably hope the outrage has tempered down.

The statement reads:

“Since the emergence of the footage, Amblin has engaged with many associated with the production of the film, including safety personnel, trainers and stunt coordinators as part of their in-depth review. While we are all disheartened by the appearance of an animal in distress, everyone has assured us that Hercules the German Shepherd was not harmed throughout the filmmaking. We continue to support this film, are incredibly proud of it and will release it for audiences nationwide next Friday.”

The studios say that the investigation into the video “is still ongoing,” and insist that the dog was not harmed during production.