Posted in: Movies, Paramount Pictures | Tagged: clifford the big red dog, movies, Paramount Pictures

Clifford the Big Red Dog Pulled From Release Reportedly Due to COVID

Published Sat, 31 Jul 2021 08:17:10 -0500

When The Green Knight was pulled from its United Kingdom release due to the Delta variant of COVID-19, we speculated that it was only a matter of time before more movies started to following including releases here in the United States. Well, it appears that the domino metaphor is once again accurate. According to Deadline, Paramount Pictures has decided to pull Clifford the Big Red Dog from its September 17th release. The article from Deadline specifically cites concerns due to rising COVID-19 numbers and worries that families won't feel comfortable going into a crowded theater to see a movie.

Clifford the Big Red Dog Has Been Pulled From Release — Darby Camp and Jack Whitehall star in CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG from Paramount Pictures. Photo Credit: Courtesy Paramount Pictures.

August is right around the corner, and with it comes some pretty big releases. It's usually a pretty dead time to release movies. It's too late to be part of the summer season but too early to release any awards bait movies because Oscar voters have an average age of approximately 102. If you release your movie too early in the fall, they will forget it exists. However, due to delays from COVID in 2020 and the early part of 2021, there really isn't a dead zone this year. August is pretty packed, and September is looking to be the same. Everything thought that we would be doing well now with the vaccine, but a certain subset of the population is refusing to get vaccinated. Allow me to repeat myself from The Green Knight article:

This pandemic is still killing people every single day, and the hospitals are starting to fill up again. There is a good chance that this could be the first of many movies that could be delayed due to spiking COVID-19 numbers. It's not just about movies like Clifford the Big Red Dog, but the fact that we are over a year into this, and it feels like we're going backward. Please, get your shots. I don't care how old you are; I don't care how healthy you are unless your doctor has told you that you cannot get the shot, then you have no excuse. I don't want to go through 2020 again, I don't want people to lose their jobs, I don't want people to die, so just do your part and get your shots. Visit Vaccines.gov if you're a United States-based reader and go get your shots and wear your damn mask in public. You paid all that money for them back in 2020, so you might as well use them.

Summary: 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. 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!

Clifford the Big Red Dog, directed by Walt Becker, stars Jack Whitehall, Darby Camp, Tony Hale, Sienna Guillory, David Alan Grier, Russell Wong, and John Cleese.

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