Paramount Pictures released the first official teaser for Clifford the Big Red Dog, a feature film adaption of the children's books published by Scholastic. Though short on time, the preview offers audiences their first look at the giant red Labrador retriever's new look for his live-action debut.
First published in 1963 and written by the late Norman Bridwell, the success of the Clifford book series proved to so instrumental in establishing Scholastic as a leading publishing company that the red dog was named the official mascot of the publisher. The stories have spawned multiple animated adaptations, including a television series and connected feature in which Jason Ritter voiced the oversized canine, but Paramount's project marks the first successful attempt to bring Clifford to the big screen as a live-action feature.
Set to the tune of "On the Road" by Rupert Pope and Giles Palmer, the Clifford the Big Red Dog teaser opens with the camera panning across a line-up of various dogs. After the narrator expresses gratitude for the pets who helped everyone get through this challenging year, the camera zooms out to reveal the live-action/CG version of Clifford before he enthusiastically licks the screen. "When middle-schooler Emily Elizabeth (Darby Camp) meets a magical animal rescuer (John Cleese) who gifts her a little, red puppy, she never anticipated waking up to find a giant ten-foot hound in her small New York City apartment," read the official synopsis that accompanied the trailer. "While her single mom (Sienna Guillory) is away for business, Emily and her fun but impulsive uncle Casey (Jack Whitehall) set out on an adventure that will keep you on the edge-of-your-seat as our heroes take a bite out of the Big Apple. Based on the beloved Scholastic book character, Clifford will teach the world how to love big!"
Paramount acquired the rights to produce a live-action/animated hybrid adaptation of the Clifford books in 2019. Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment had originally planned to produce a film based on the stories, but the project fell through after years of being stuck in development. Directed by Walt Becker, whose previous credits include Wild Hogs and Old Dogs, Clifford the Big Red Dog was originally slated to hit theaters in November 2020 until the COVID-19 pandemic required Paramount to push back its release date by nearly a full year.
Paramount has already had success with live-action/CG hybrids this year with the release of Sonic the Hedgehog. While the film received its fair share of criticism, its box office fortunes included a record-breaking opening weekend for video adaptations.
Interestingly, some of the reactions to the Clifford trailer are on par with the initial responses to Sonic's CG design. Despite the fact that this new version of Clifford appears to be what one might expect of a Labrador retriever with red fur, some viewers are seemingly put off by the design or take issue with the dog not being nearly as large as depicted in the books.
Clifford the Big Red Dog is scheduled to be released in theaters on November 5, 2021.
Source: Paramount/YouTube