Film Harold And The Purple Crayon

It will star Zachary Levi in the titular role, with Lil Rel Howery, Benjamin Bottani, Jemaine Clement, Tanya Reynolds, and Zooey Deschanel in supporting roles. The film serves as a sequel to the original book, where, after the adventurous Harold grows up with his magical purple crayon and draws himself off the book's pages and into the physical world, he finds that he has a lot to learn about real life.

Harold and the Purple Crayon
Teaser poster
Directed by	Carlos Saldanha
Screenplay by	David Guion Michael Handelman
Based on	Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
Produced by	John Davis
Starring	Zachary Levi Lil Rel Howery Benjamin Bottani Jemaine Clement Tanya Reynolds Zooey Deschanel
Cinematography	Gabriel Beristain
Edited by	Tia Nolan
Music by	Batu Sener
Production companies	Columbia Pictures Davis Entertainment Scholastic Entertainment
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Releasing
Release date	August 2, 2024 (2024-08-02)
Country	United States
Language	English

Produced by Columbia Pictures in association with producer John Davis through Davis Entertainment, A Scholastic Entertainment production, Harold and the Purple Crayon is scheduled to be released in the United States by Sony Pictures Releasing on August 2, 2024.

• Zachary Levi as Harold, a man who has a magical purple crayon since his childhood which makes whatever he draws come to life
• Lil Rel Howery as Moose, A moose whose one of Harold's friends and becomes human in the real world
• Benjamin Bottani as Mel
• Zooey Deschanel as Terry
• Jemaine Clement as Gary
• Tanya Reynolds as Porcupine, a porcupine friend whose one of Harold's friends and becomes human in the real world
• Alfred Molina
• Ravi Patel
• Camille Guaty
• Pete Gardner
• Seth Robbins

Early attempts

In 1992, John B. Carls formed the family-film production company, Wild Things Productions, with Maurice Sendak, writer and illustrator of Where the Wild Things Are. They acquired rights to other children's books, including Harold and the Purple Crayon and whose author Crockett Johnson, was a mentor to Sendak. Sendak and Denise Di Novi were producers. About 1994, Michael Tolkin was brought in to write the script and Henry Selick was to direct, but Selick moved on to James and the Giant Peach for Walt Disney Pictures. Carls picked Spike Jonze to develop the film, a combination of live action and animation. David O. Russell was brought in to help with rewrites. Multiple screenplays, casting, storyboards, and animation work started but Jonze had to abandon the project after more than a year working on it when new management at TriStar Pictures stopped it, two months before principal photography was to begin.

In February 2010, it was reported that Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment were developing a CGI-animated film adaptation of Harold and the Purple Crayon, to be produced by Smith and James Lassiter, and written by Josh Klausner. In December 2016, it was reported that the film would also be written by Dallas Clayton.

Resurgence

On February 1, 2021, it was reported that Zachary Levi would star in the film, though it was initially not stated what role he would play at that time, except that the film would now be a combination of live-action and animation. It was also announced that Carlos Saldanha was attached to direct the new film, and that David Guion and Michael Handelman replaced Klausner and Clayton as screenwriters, with John Davis producing under his Davis Entertainment banner. Lil Rel Howery was announced as part of the cast on January 11, 2022. Zooey Deschanel and Ravi Patel were added in February 2022. Camille Guaty was cast on March 1, 2022. Tanya Reynolds and Pete Gardner joined in May 2022. In January 2024, it was revealed that Jemaine Clement had joined the cast, uniting with Saldanha after having previously voiced Nigel in Rio (2011) and its sequel Rio 2 (2014).

Around the beginning of 2022, live-action filming took place in the Atlanta, Georgia area. Gabriel Beristain served as the cinematographer.

Post-production

Tia Nolan serves as an editor on the film.

In February 2023, Batu Sener, who previously provided additional music to films composed by Saldanha's frequent collaborator John Powell, was announced to be composing the film's score.

Harold and the Purple Crayon is scheduled to be released in theaters on August 2, 2024. It was originally scheduled to be released on January 27, 2023, and June 30, 2023.

Marketing

The first teaser posters were released on March 13, 2024, confirming that Harold will be played by Levi and that the character, originally a kid, will be portrayed as a grown man in the film. A trailer for the film was released on March 20, 2024.