Sorry for the late posting of the Bloggery, but I’ve been traveling all day to a retirement community in Arizona, and as you might guess the Interweb isn’t the hottest thing in these parts (obviously the hottest thing is the temperature, but anyway…).

So, I’m a bit late in addressing the news about Universal making a Where’s Waldo film, but it is the most fun movie topic of the past 24 hours (plus), and I just can’t let it be passed up for anything else. Mostly I just want to call back the clip of the day from almost exactly one year ago where I spotlighted a Bourne Ultimatum parody involving everyone’s favorite hard-to-find world/time traveler. And the thing I find most interesting about this actual film-to-be is that Universal is the same studio that produces the Bourne movies. Could there be at least a crossover cameo from Matt Damon? I am certain that he’d be down for a little winking tribute to that excellent fake trailer.

After the jump, check out a roundup of other blogged responses to the Where’s Waldo movie:

• Alex Billington at First Showing addresses a time-traveling Waldo pitch that was originally being developed at Paramount/Nickelodeon:
  

  Pretty simple, in a whimsical Bedtime Stories kind of way, but you know what, it could make for a good kid’s movie. I haven’t picked up a Waldo book in forever, so it’s obviously meant for that age range. But then again, maybe I’m being overly optimistic, as this is the same studio that’s also making Monopoly, Stretch Armstrong, Candyland, and Battleship movies.

• Cole Abaius at Film School Rejects accidentally pitches an idea for another potential adaptation:
  

  I just have zero clue as to how you’d take a book that’s about staring at a page until you see a guy with a walking stick and an annoying red and white striped all-weather sweater into a full movie. It boggles the mind.

  Please, no one take that last sentence as inspiration to adapt “Boggle” into a movie.

• Rod at The Playlist has yet another suggestion for an easy kids movie:
  

  We’re getting awesome/awful flashbacks to Mike Myers in “The Cat In The Hat.” The plot to this one is going to be about… finding? hiding? spotting? Hey, “Hide & Go Seek! The Movie” has anyone pitched that yet cause we could come up with an awesome script.

• Dustin Rowles at Pajiba doesn’t seem too happy about the project:
  

  Hey Hollywood. Fuck you! Not in the ear. Not in the eye. Not in the nose.

  In the ass.

  Please to Enjoy!

• Dan Hopper at Best Week Ever jokes about how dated this project is:
  

  Chris Meledandri, on behalf of Universal and Illumination Entertainment, will be adapting Where’s Waldo into a big-screen family film, presumably after failing to acquire the rights to Goosebumps, Slap Bracelets, Skip-It, and the “Hangin’ Tough” music video.

  No word on whether or not the Waldo project will affect Universal’s Tamagotchi: The Movie.

• Sean at Film Junk also thinks the project is dated but has an appropriate suggestion for its director:
  

  This might have made sense back in the early ’90s when the books were actually popular, but let’s face it, no one has heard from Waldo in years. Is this really a franchise worth pursuing? Well, there is one thing that might get me interested: Mel Gibson in the director’s chair. Why Mel Gibson? Why, because he featured Waldo as an Easter Egg in Apocalypto! Check out the video [embedded in Sean's post], and look closely at about the :08 second mark.

• Helen O’Hara at Empire points out that this film will need a lot of extras:
  

  …look at a large and detailed picture and try to find the titular character as he lurks somewhere in the background while other people do more interesting things. We’re assuming that, to turn this into a film, they’re going to need Gandhi-like crowd scenes.

• Mark at I Watch Stuff has some idea(s) of what the movie will be like:
  

  …something along the lines of the cartoon series, an RV-like film following one family’s search for the character, or, if we’re lucky, a somber pseudo-travelogue about a lonely man finding himself more and more obscured in a world full of striped beach towels, patterned castle flags, and ever-increasing public apathy (starring Steve Coogan in the title role).

  At least the novelization should be interesting.

• Elisabeth Rappe at MTV Movies Blog has a good idea for what the movie should be like:
  

  Perhaps they’ll turn it into a kid-friendly version of “Hard Target,” with hordes of people hunting for Waldo in exotic locations. Now that might be worth seeing … especially if they keep the cartoonish nudity.

• Finally, Peter Martin at Cinematical has some strange ideas for casting the lead. Here’s two of his too-old suggestions:
  

  • Hugh Laurie. Not too nerdy, true, but he might be the best of all, acting-wise; wields a nasty walking stick on House; amazing comic abilities just waiting to be tapped.
  • Rainn Wilson. Versatile, manic energy, can intentionally disappear into the background on The Office — and definitely has got the bespectacled thing down.

Here’s that old Bourne/Waldo spoof trailer in case you missed it last year:

The Waldo Ultimatum - Watch more Funny Videos