Clifford the Big Red Dog (2021 Film)

Submission 7,021

About

Clifford the Big Red Dog (2021 Film) refers to a live-action adaptation of the children's book series Clifford the Big Red Dog, set to be released in September 2021. The film's teaser and subsequent trailer showed off the design of the titular dog, which split viewers between those who felt it looked creepy via the uncanny valley effect and those who felt it was a decent representation of what Clifford would look like in the real world.

History

On November 25th, 2020, Paramount Pictures released the first teaser for their upcoming film Clifford the Big Red Dog, showing off the design of the titular character alongside stars of the film such as Monty Python's John Cleese (shown below).^[1]

On June 29th, a two-minute trailer for the film premiered and went viral online (shown below),^[2]

Online Presence

Immediately following the premiere of the teaser on November 25th, 2020, the appearance of Clifford in the film became a subject of jokes online. For example, on November 25th, Twitter^[3] user @Kathriller posted a tweet that received over 3,900 retweets and 33,600 likes in seven months (shown below, left). On December 7th, 2020, Twitter^[4] user @GraceGFreud posted a meme that gained over 27,800 retweets and 314,900 likes in seven months (shown below, right).

Following the premiere of the trailer on June 29th, more humorous posts about the appearance of Clifford in the film were shared online. For example, on June 29th, gimmick Twitter^[5] account @behind_pics shared a photograph of a technical prop used for filming the movie, with the tweet gaining over 1,400 retweets and 17,500 likes in one day (shown below, left). Later on the same day, Twitter user @amyis_trying tweeted^[6] a still image from the trailer, writing, "this looks like a commercial for anxiety medication." The tweet gained over 40,500 retweets and 380,000 likes in one day (shown below, center).