MGM working on bringing "Where's Waldo?" to the movies

Do you remember the animated character Waldo from the children’s book series Where’s Waldo? He is the elusive character you would have to search for in an oversized hand drawn picture filled with people, buildings, animals and other variations of distractions to deter finding Waldo in a moment’s notice. For the most part I am familiar with the participatory process of the book series as I have looked through a large number of the drawings in search of finding Waldo hidden among the large crowds of fellow cartoon characters. It would be safe to say the primary purpose of the books would be to pull the viewer into staring at a still drawing for a long period of time to find a microscopic sized red and white striped sweatshirt.

Within the first week of November the word was released to the public of the interest MGM holds in converting the “Where’s Waldo?” property into a feature length movie. I am sure there is some way it would be plausible to create a character story for Waldo that would explain how and why he would frequently appear as a single figure lost in a large crowd of people at various locations such as carnivals, swap meets, conventions, and amusement parks. I would imagine the original concept of staring at a still photo for a lengthy period of time until you find Waldo would be completely debunked by the constantly moving visuals that pass by your eyes at a constant rate of twenty-four still images per second.

The film will be produced by Classic Media on the behalf of MGM who will distribute the final product to the movie theaters throughout the country. This week the screenwriter for the movie has been secured to pen the storyline, which ties back to the concern that I have previously brought up. How will the writer approach the subject matter? Todd Berger is the hired writer to work on adapting the material into the world movie making. He is a man of all different production hats, including his work as an actor and director. As a culmination of all the different production jobs that he listed on his resume, I am sure he would be able to find a way to adapt a non-movie product into the proper format needed to fill ninety minutes or so of theater screen time. This should be interesting to see what the final product will look like.

SOURCES: The Hollywood Reporter and Slash Film.