Jerry Shepard (Paul Walker) work as guide at an Antarctica research base, deeply fond of his eight sled dogs Maya, Max, Old Jack, Truman, Dewey, Shorty, Shadow and Buck, and of his friend and mapmaker of the expedition Charlie Cooper (Jason Biggs). Jerry’s ex girlfriend and pilot Kate (Moon Bloodgood) arrives at the base with UCLA professor Dr. Davis McClaren (Bruce Greenwood) who reach the Antartica for a secret mission. Jerry should take him to Mount Melbourne, to attempt to find a rare meteorite from the planet Mercury. Jerry does so against his own intuition, which tells him that it is too late in the season to complete such a treacherous route. Worried about the snowmobiles breaking through the thinning ice or falling in a crevasse, Jerry tells his boss and Dr. McClaren that the only way to get to Mount Melbourne is by dog sled.

Jerry and Dr. McClaren make it to Mount Melbourne with the dogs, but are immediately called back to base camp due to an approaching storm. Dr. McClaren begs for some time, and Jerry gives him half a day. Dr. McClaren found his precious meteorite, and they start to return at the base. During the travel, Jerry pauses to patch up one of the dogs, whose paw is bleeding. Dr. McClaren, walking around to get a better radio connection with base, slides down an embankment when a soft ledge gives way. His landing at the bottom cracks the thin ice and he’s ends up breaking through. Jerry get his alpha dog Maya to bring a rope to the doc and the dog team pulls him from the water.

Is the dogs' stamina and keen sense of direction that gets Jerry and the injured Dr. McClaren back to base. They are immediately evacuated, along with all other personnel, due to the storm, which is expected to intensify. With too much weight in the plane to carry both people and dogs, the human team medically evacuates Jerry and the doc planning to return later for the dogs. The dogs are temporarily left behind, but the storm is worse than expected and when Jerry wakes up in the main base, he’ll soon understand that no rescue will be attempted for the dogs until the next spring.

Back at home, Jerry try to find someone who helps him to get the way back to save the dogs, but nobody takes the deal, neither Dr. McClaren. Jerry experiences angst about leaving his dogs and leaves his work as guide, starting teaching and renting kayak at kids. After a heart-to-heart session with the man who raised the dogs, Jerry decides to throw his all into rescuing the dogs. Five months later, before leaving for the trip, Jerry patches things up with Dr.McClaren, during a celebration party for the meteorite’s discovery, and tells him about his intentions to reach Wellington and there trying to find a passage for Antartica and rescue the dogs. Soon afterwards, Dr. McClaren sees a drawing of the dog team made by his young son, with the title: "My Hero is... THE DOGS WHO SAVED MY DADDY." Dr. McClaren realizes the magnitude of his ingratitude and uses the remaining balance of his grant money to finance a rescue mission.

Meanwile, the dogs must struggle for survival alone in the Antarctic wilderness until someone return to rescue them. They loose themself from the chain, except Old Jack. The others, guided by the alpha dog Maya, survived hunting birds. During a southern lights, one of the dogs, Dewey,  falls and die. The other dogs leave him behind, except for the puppy Max, who survive alone untill he meet again the others near a small frozen lake, where they found a death whale, defended by a fierce leopard seal. The dogs sent it away, but the seal bite on the leg Maya, so Max become the leader of the group.

In Wellington Jerry meets Charlie, Kate and Dr. McClaren. They reach Antartica with an icebreaker, but ice is yet too thick, and they aren’t able to reach the base. Charlie purpose to reach the nearest italian base by flight, there get a snowcat and then reach their own base. At the base Jerry found the body of Old Jack, loosing his heart, but the other collars are empty and Max lead the survived dogs at the base, right into Jerry’s arms.

Based on a ill-fated Japanese expedition to the South Pole in 1958, in which the party was faced with extreme weather conditions, that inspired the 1983 hit movie Nankyoku Monogatari. In the 1958 event, fifteen Sakhalin Husky sled dogs were involved. Of the fifteen sled dogs, only two survived (Taro and Jiro). In Eight Below, eight dogs were used -- two Alaskan Malamutes,  plus six Siberian Huskies. Many more dogs were needed to act out difficult scenes; each actor-dog had help from other dogs who performed stunts and pulled sleds. In all, 32 dogs were used to portray the film's eight canine characters.

Since 1994, sled dogs have not been used in Antarctica; however, the movie takes place in 1993.

The movie was filmed in Smithers, British Columbia and Kangerlussuaq, Greenland.

Second unit filming in Greenland was referred to by crew members as the "Amundsen Expedition". This was a reference to second unit director/director of photography Mitchell Amundsen, and to Roald Amundsen, the first man to reach the South Pole.

The dogs spend almost all of their isolation in daylight when, in fact, they were enduring the southern winter, well south of the Antarctic Circle, and would thus have been in prolonged darkness.

The Dogs Dewey & Truman are named for the 1948 U.S. Presidential candidates Thomas E. Dewey and Harry S. Truman.

The "Lamborghini" of Snow Cats that they borrowed from the Italian camp was named "Mare Biscotto", it translates to Sea Biscuit, the title of a film that director Frank Marshall produced. But, in fact, traslation is wrong. In english adjective occurse before the nous, but is not usually the same in italian, didn’t care of this grammatic’s difference in a traslation could change the meaning of a phrase. So the right translation of “Sea Biscuit”  should be “Biscotto di Mare” or “Biscotto Marino”, as translated on the Snow Cat,“Mare Biscotto”, it means “Biscuit’s Sea”.

ABOUT THE DOGS

 Buck

The spirited, red-headed Buck comes to life through the work of the cast's quickest learner, Conan, and Flapjack, a strapping six year-old, who is also the biggest dog in the movie, weighing in at over 120 pounds. Conan and Flapjack performed both the acting and sledding for Buck.

Dewey

One of the close-knit twins in the pack, is portrayed by four-year-old Floyd, a veteran pro who, when not starring in movies such as Snow Dogs, is one of the regulars at the Universal Animal Show in Florida. Dewey hurt himself and eventually died after falling down the snow cliff jumping at the Aurora australis. His sledding double was two-year-old Ryan. Dewey can be told from Truman by a scar over his left eye, given to him by his brother.

Maya

The strong and maternal Alpha leader of the pack is played by seven year-old Koda Bear, star of such films as Snow Dogs. She is known to her trainers as The Princess due to the fact that she has her own entourage and will not go anywhere without her special blanket. She was almost passed up for the part because the filmmakers originally wanted a white dog, but she won over the filmmakers and became one of Frank Marshall's favorites. Also starring as Maya is the equally beautiful seven-year-old Jasmine, who always gets very serious whenever she is playing a film role. Their sledding double was Kalista, herself a long time Alpha sled dog; like her character, she helped to keep all the other dogs out of trouble during the filming. She is also a Siberian Husky. Maya in this movie is the owner's little girl. He loves her like she is a real human being.

Max

The young sled-dog who starts out in the back of the pack but becomes a heroic leader in the course of the incredible adventures of Eight Below is played by six-year-old D.J., a playful, happy-go-lucky natural born movie star who previously starred in the canine hit Snow Dogs. D.J. impressed his trainers and director Frank Marshall with his uncanny improvisational skills and always brought an extra dash of drama to his scenes as Max. D.J's sledding double is one-year-old Timba, who was an on-set favorite due to an exceptionally cuddly nature.

Old Jack

The oldest dog in the pack, Old Jack is played by a relative youngster, four-year-old Apache. Apache developed a particular love of helicopter rides during the making of Eight Below. The Poker scene was done by Suli, a kennel mate of Apache. Some of Old Jack's sledding work was performed by Buck, an all-white dog previously seen in Snow Dogs, who underwent a dye job to match Apache. Old Jack died right on the base where their trainer and friends lived, too old and weak to break off from his chain like the others.

Shadow

Starring as the silvery, sleek Shadow, Noble, a three-year-old canine actor known for really getting into character, and four-year-old Troika, famous for her beautiful howling voice. Both did all the acting and all the sledding for their roles. Troika was a stray on the streets of Knoxville, TN. He was found by animal control emaciated and neglected and taken to Knox Co Animal Welfare Center. Sleddog Rescue of Tennessee assumed the responsibility for housing Troika and nursed him back to health for adoption. Troika was unwanted, unloved, and neglected as he wandered the streets of Knoxville scrounging for a skimpy meal. He was battling parasites and malnutrition. It was due to the dedication of Sleddog rescue that Troika was able to regain his health and be scouted by www.birdsandanimals.com to become a canine star in this Disney film.

Shorty

The all-brawn-and-too-few-brains rebel dog, Shorty, is played by equally playful, all-white, three-year-old Jasper, who was especially excited to star in Eight Below because he quickly discovered snow is his favorite thing in the world. Jasper's sledding double was the tenacious Yukon, who never seemed to tire of pulling the sled.

Truman

Truman, Dewey's identical brother, is portrayed by three-year-old Sitka, whose favorite things in life include slices of Canadian Duck and frequent belly rubs. Her sledding and action double was five-year-old Chase, known to the trainers as the big goof ball. Chase graciously underwent a regular dye job to look more like Sitka.