Zachary Levi's list of box office flops is getting long but one movie that barely a soul saw is now headed to Netflix. Finally, all you Levi stans can stream it. Harold and the Purple Crayon made roughly $30 million in total at the box office. The film itself cost more than that to make. It's opening weekend was nowhere near what the movie needed. Based on the book by Crockett Johnson that was released in 1955, the movie cast Levi as Harold, in yet another child-turned-real-life-adult role.
Levi starred as Harold opposite Tanya Reynolds as Porcupine and Lil Rel Howery as Moose. The rest of the cast included Zooey Deschanel, Jemaine Clement, and Alfred Molina as Johnson himself — or really as Harold's father since he was the one who created Harold. For the most part, Harold and the Purple Crayon seems like a fine kid's movie, but it has a reputation online for being bad and cheesy. The Carlos Saldanha film has a 27% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics. On the flip, it does have a 91% on the Popcornmeter with over 500 reviews from verified fans.
Levi previously starred in Shazam! and Shazam! Fury of the Gods. In that movie, he starred as Shazam aka adult Billy Batson who gains superpowers when his younger self (played by Asher Angel) says the magic word: "Shazam." To be fair, as Harold, Levi is playing a man named Harold who grew up in an imaginary world where his magical purple crayon can draw him whatever he wants. So he's at least an actual adult — just an adult whose friends are a moose and a porcupine.
'Harold and the Purple Crayon' Is Not the Kids Book Anyone Wanted To See Come to Life
Image via Sony Pictures.
There are plenty of kids' books that have come to life on the big screen. We've seen multiple versions of Curious George and even The Cat in the Hat got a live-action rendition. Harold and his magic purple crayon were just never high on the list of kid's books we needed to see come to life. The movie itself is too aggressively fine for the budget it had and so it now lives in infamy as a movie with a terrible reputation online. Now, you can watch Harold and the Purple Crayonand make fun of it from an informed position. If you want!
Harold and the Purple Crayon will stream on Netflix on October 31.
A young boy named Harold embarks on a magical mission with the help of his purple crayon
Image via Sony Pictures
Image via Sony Pictures. 
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