Harold and the Purple Crayon

Harold and the Purple Crayon is a 2024 American fantasy comedy film directed by Carlos Saldanha (in his live-action feature-length directorial debut) from a screenplay by David Guion and Michael Handelman, based on the 1955 children's book by Crockett Johnson. Combining live-action and animation, the film stars Zachary Levi, Lil Rel Howery, Jemaine Clement, Tanya Reynolds, Alfred Molina, and Zooey Deschanel. It serves as a sequel to the original book, with Harold growing up with his magical purple crayon. After he draws himself off the book's pages and into the physical world, Harold finds that he has a lot to learn about real life.
Produced by John Davis in association with TSG Entertainment, the film premiered at Culver City in Los Angeles on July 21, 2024, and was released in the United States by Columbia Pictures through Sony Pictures Releasing on August 2. The film received generally negative reviews from critics and grossed $13 million at the box office.
== Plot ==
Harold, a young boy who lives inside of a book, can make anything come to life simply by drawing it with the help of a magic purple crayon, such as his two friends Moose and Porcupine.
When Harold grows up, the narrator who he refers to as "old man" mysteriously disappears one day. Harold decides to draw a door into the real world to go and look for him. Moose follows, with Porcupine getting left behind for a short while before being separated from the other two in the real world. Harold draws a bike that he and Moose, now a human, ride to look for the old man, who Harold believes is his father. Terri, the mother of an imaginative boy named Mel, accidentally hits Harold and Moose with her car. Terri finds a puncture in her right front tire, to which Harold draws a new one while she isn't looking, much to Terri's confusion. Mel convinces Terri to let Harold and Moose stay for the night, and they are hidden in a room above her garage. That night, Mel secretly invites Harold downstairs and the two bond. Harold breaks off part of his crayon and gives it to Mel.
The next day, Terri informs Harold and Moose that they have to leave while Mel goes to school. When the two do leave, Mel secretly joins them to help look for Harold's father. The three go to a library where they meet Gary Natwick, a librarian who is struggling to pitch his overly-complicated idea for a fantasy novel and has a secret crush on Terri. The three ask Gary if he can locate Harold's father on a computer, but they find no results due to their information on him being too vague. When the three leave, Harold draws a plane and uses contrails to display Terri's phone number in the sky, asking "old man" to call the number. Gary sees Harold draw the plane and recognizes the book he came from. After Terri receives several calls at work from strangers, she then receives a call from the school that Mel was involved in a bullying incident and must return home immediately. Harold and Moose find Terri at work; the latter of whom assigns the duo with filling in for her by moving boxes in the storage room. The two get bored after six minutes of working and enter the shopping area to help in other ways. They cause chaos, which results in Terri getting fired, in which Terri soon gets over it due to hating the job.
Harold, Moose, Terri and Mel walk into the town square, where Harold draws a piano for Terri to play; Harold found out in the garage that Terri secretly wanted to be a pianist. Afterwards, Gary meets up with Harold and Moose and shows them the book they came from. Harold sees the author's name on the cover and realizes that the "old man" he was searching for is named Crockett Johnson. Soon after, Harold and Moose reunite with Porcupine, who is tackled by cops due to having previously broken into a house and stolen a leather jacket. The three are arrested, but quickly break out when Harold draws a wrecking ball to break the prison wall. Later on, Porcupine draws a car which they drive to Crockett Johnson's house, only to find that he has died. Harold is distraught and everything he drew begins to fade away, including Moose and Porcupine.
Alone, Harold soon meets up with Gary, who convinces Harold to give him the crayon. Gary uses the crayon to imprison Harold in his office and cosplay himself as a warrior from his fantasy world. Mel arrives and is quickly imprisoned too but frees himself and Harold using the crayon piece Harold gave him, restoring his happiness and everything he drew, including Moose and Porcupine. They encounter Gary in the town square, who is using the crayon to create his fantasy world. Harold and Gary fight for the whole crayon, but Gary swallows Harold's crayon piece and absorbs its power, using his hands to transform the grass into molten lava. Mel uses his imaginary creature Carl, who he drew earlier at school in a desperate situation, to make Gary spit out the crayon piece with a little help from Moose and Porcupine. Everything returns to normal, and Harold draws Gary a door into his world so he can literally live out his fantasy. Gary enters before the door is burnt down by Carl.
In the aftermath, Harold, Moose, Porcupine, Terri and Mel visit a museum of Crockett Johnson's work. After Harold discovers why he was created in a note left by Johnson, he, Moose and Porcupine return to their world, with Mel handing Harold a pack of Crayola multi-colored crayons when saying goodbye.
== Cast ==
== Music ==
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. John Powell did reunite with Saldanha but as a score consultant to Sener on the tone of the film. The full score was released on August 2, 2024, alongside an original single titled "Colors", performed by Boots Ottestad and Jordy Searcy, which plays during the film's closing credits.
== Release ==
Harold and the Purple Crayon was 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 would be played by Levi and that the character, originally a child, would be portrayed as a grown man in the film. A trailer for the film was released on March 20, 2024. On June 25, 2024, Crayola partnered with Sony Pictures for a competition to find specially wrapped purple crayons hidden in packs of the 24-count crayons. The winner will be flown off on a family holiday to New York City and taken to the Crayola Experience as part of their prize.
== Reception ==
===Box office===
, Harold and the Purple Crayon has grossed $10.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $13.8 million.
In the United States and Canada, Harold and the Purple Crayon was released alongside Trap, and was projected to gross $5–6 million from 3,325 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $2.4 million on its first day, going on to debut to $6 million, finishing sixth at the box office.
===Critical response ===
 Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it an overall positive score of 70%, with 46% saying they would definitely recommend the film.
== External links ==
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== References ==
Category:2024 films
Category:Films starring Zachary Levi
Category:Films with live action and animation
Category:Films directed by Carlos Saldanha
Category:Columbia Pictures animated films
Category:Columbia Pictures films
Category:Davis Entertainment films
Category:Films distributed by Columbia Pictures
Category:2020s American animated films
Category:2020s children's comedy films
Category:2020s children's fantasy films
Category:2020s English-language films
Category:2024 computer-animated films
Category:2024 fantasy films
Category:American animated comedy films
Category:American animated fantasy films
Category:American children's comedy films
Category:American children's fantasy films
Category:American fantasy comedy films
Category:American films with live action and animation
Category:Columbia Pictures animated films
Category:Columbia Pictures films
Category:Davis Entertainment films
Category:Films about parallel universes
Category:Films based on children's books
Category:Films directed by Carlos Saldanha
Category:Films produced by John Davis
Category:Films shot in Atlanta
Category:Metafictional works
Category:TSG Entertainment films
Category:Films starring Alfred Molina
Category:Films starring Jemaine Clement
Category:Films starring Lil Rel Howery
Category:Films starring Tanya Reynolds
Category:Films starring Zooey Deschanel