Untitled Harold and the Purple Crayon film
The Harold and the Purple Crayon film is an upcoming live action film that is based on the book of the same name written by Crockett Johnson. It is directed by Carlos Saldanha and will star Zachary Levi, Zooey Deschanel, Lil Rel Howery, and Ravi Patel. Saldanha is known for his work on animated feature films by Blue Sky Studios, such as Academy Award Nominated for Best Animated Feature, "Ferdinand". Several filmmakers were involved in attempts to produce versions of the film before the latest version, "Spike Jonze, Will Smith and Steven Spielberg  were once attached to a feature adaptation in different capacities." Development. 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 books, including "Harold and the Purple Crayon" and whose author 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". Carls picked Spike Jonze to developed the  film, a combination of live action and animation. A budget of $25 million to almost $50 million was mentioned in the press. David O. Russell was brought in to help with rewrites. Multiple screenplays, casting, storyboards, and animation work started but Jonze had to abandoned the project after more than a year working on it when new management at TriStar Pictures stop it, two months before principal photography. In February 2010, it was reported that Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation 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. The film will follow a boy named Harold, who uses his magic purple crayon to retreat into his own fantasy world, but then soon realizes that he's been selfish with his crayon. So he then uses it to help his parents and others, and even go on a mission to Mars. In December 2016, it was reported that the film would also be written by Dallas Clayton. That film was going to be produced by Columbia Pictures and going to be distributed by Sony Pictures  Releasing. On February 1, 2021, it was reported that Zachary Levi would star in the film, though it was not stated what role he would play. Levi had the title role in "Shazam!" and its sequel, where he plays a boy who had turned into an adult superhero. It was announced director Carlos Saldanha is attached to direct the new film. It was also announced that David Guion and Michael Handelman replaced Klausner and Clayton as screenwriters, with John Davis producing. While Zooey Deschanel and Lil Rey Howery was added in the cast. Production. Around the beginning of 2022, filming  was taking place in the Atlanta, Georgia area. Sony has announced a release date for January 27, 2023. Sony Pictures showed footage from the film as part of a upcoming releases sizzle reel at CinemaCon in April 2022.