Universal to bring "Waldo" to the silver screen

Universal to bring "Waldo" to the silver screen

Edging out other studio bids, Universal and Illumination Entertainment have won the screen rights to the popular book series, "Where's Waldo" and are in the process of turning it into a live-action movie.

According to an article from Variety.com, "Among other bidders, Warner Bros. chased the property for Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne's Unique Features banner. The rights were brokered by Classic Media's Eric Ellenbogen who'll be executive producer."

Chris Meledandri will produce the film. His previous producing credits include 1993's "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit," 2002's "Ice Age" and 2006's "Ice Age: The Meltdown."

Written and illustrated by Martin Handford, the "Where's Waldo" book series has sold over 50 million copies worldwide. It includes full-page illustrations of massive crowd scenes in which "Waldo" is hidden somewhere in the multitude of people. He is always dressed in a red and white shirt with a hat, glasses and a walking stick.

When "Where's Waldo" was launched in the U.K. in 1987, its immense appeal brought about a television series, video games and even a comic strip.

Yet a HollywoodReporter.com article talks about how the idea was previously conceived by another studio, "The book series was previously set up at Paramount and Nickelodeon, where John Schultz was attached to direct a script that had been worked on by scribes such as Adam Rifkin as well as Adam Cooper and Bill Collage."

The storyline of that project had a 30-year-old "Waldo" traveling through time after accidentally turning on a malfunctioning time machine.

Over several months, studios competed for the rights to "Where's Waldo," yet it was Meledandri who vigorously pushed to bring the project to Universal, where his Illumination Entertainment is based.