Illumination Entertainment and Universal Plan CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG Movie

Illumination Entertainment has only produced two animated films thus far (I’m discounting Hop), but they were both massive hits at the box office.  Despicable Me kicked things off in 2010 (Despicable Me 2 opens next year), and earlier this year they scored big with The Lorax.  The studio recently put a Cat in the Hat animated feature in development, and now they’re adding a non-Seuss feature to their development slate.  Heat Vision reports that Illumination and Universal will bring an adaptation of Clifford the Big Red Dog to the big screen.

Matt Lopez (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) has been tapped to write the screenplay, and Chris Meledandri will produce for Illumination alongside Deborah Forte from Scholastic Media.  For those deprived of a childhood, Clifford follows a young girl named Emily Elizabeth and her 25-foot-tall dog.  Norman Bridwell authored the first Clifford book in 1963 and the character has been a staple of childrens books ever since, expanding into a television series in 2000.  Hit the jump for a clip from the TV show.