This morning, some news broke before many of us had had a chance to finish our coffee: a live action adaptation of Harold and the Purple Crayon is coming out, and it stars Zachary Levi as Harold.
I don’t know about you, but when I saw the movie poster hit social media, my uncaffeinated brain assumed I was being punked. There was just no way this was real. There was no way. This poster and the other poster that Sony released, which shows Levi’s hand holding aloft Yon Sacred Crayon, look 100% fake. But after Madame Web‘s marketing campaign and Marvel’s glut of AI-generated posters, I guess this is just what film promotion looks like now.
Anyway, after some sleuthing (the caffeine was finally kicking in at this point), I came upon Sony’s original announcement on X (formerly Twitter).
Harold and the Purple Crayon, you may be lucky enough to recall, is Crockett Johnson’s classic 1955 children’s book about a toddler who takes a crayon on a fabulous joy ride through his own imagination. There’s not much of a plot—the book is just a whimsical celebration of children’s art and pretend play. Harold draws a dragon, and some pies, and a hot hair balloon, and eventually gets home by drawing his bedroom window and his bed. It’s adorable!
…and now we get to see the reanimated corpse of Johnson’s masterpiece on the big screen!
Anyway, my editor asked me to include some ostensibly useful information in this article instead of just complaining about the things in the world that I can’t change, so here’s some release info.
Harold and the Purple Crayon cast
Right now, Levi, Zooey Deschanel, and Lil Rey Howery are all confirmed cast members, along with Camille Glauty and Tanya Reynolds. There’s some confusion over whether Jemaine Clement is in it, with Deadline reporting that he is, but IMDB leaving his name off the cast list.
Harold and the Purple Crayon plot
I … Harold has the crayon. He makes stuff with the crayon. The movie’s tagline is “Everything he draws is about to get real.” I’m betting he probably gets into trouble or something. What time is it? I need a drink.
Harold and the Purple Crayon release window
Harold and the Purple Crayon hits theaters in August 2024. Who knows? Maybe it’ll be an artistic achievement on par with Killers of the Flower Moon. Then you can all come back to this article and laugh at how naive and cynical I was for not believing.
(featured image: Sony Pictures)
