A children’s feature such as “Clifford the Big Red Dog” is not a film that Metaflix would typically cover, but sometimes the headline is just too juicy to pass up. Accordingly, it seems that Clifford, more than any other film currently on the release schedule, is being taken to “live a farm upstate” due to the worsening pandemic.
Last week, Paramount cancelled its planned September theatrical release for “Clifford the Big Red Dog” as a result of the surging Delta variant of COVID-19 throughout the US. Now, film distributor Entertainment One, which was due to release the movie in Canada on Sept. 17 day-and-date with Paramount’s U.S. release, has responded in-kind:
“Due to this change, the film will no longer be able to attend this year’s Toronto International Film Festival,” eOne said in a statement.
“Clifford the Big Red Dog” was added to the Toronto International Film Festival just weeks earlier, on July 20. The eventual premiere of the film and details surrounding a theatrical or streaming release are indefinitely on hold.
Why “Clifford” is being axed with such certitude is unclear. To date, no other films slated to be released in the coming weeks or months have been pulled from film festivals or their theatrical release slots.
However, while Clifford may indeed be a big red dog, it may also be serving as the proverbial canary in the coal mine. Should the pandemic worsen, more films may suffer the same fate. Stay tuned to this space.
