Universal To Unleash ‘Clifford The Big Red Dog’ In Spring 2016

The studio has dated its adaptation of the best-selling children’s books that spawned a PBS series. The live-action/animated 3D pic Clifford The Big Red Dog has fetched an April 8, 2016, release slot. Scholastic Media’s Deborah Forte will produce and Matt Lopez (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, the just-announced The Day The Crayons Quit) is working on the script, which David Bowers will helm. First published in 1963, the book series follows the adventures of Emily Elizabeth, a young denizen of a rural island community who gets a red puppy for her birthday that grows to the rather unusual size of 25 feet tall. The Universal movie has that weekend to itself for now; maybe Tim Burton will counter with a pic about a 25-foot cat.