Where's Waldo (2019 TV Series)
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''Where's Wally?'' (called ''Where's Waldo?'' in North America) is a series of children's puzzle books created by English illustrator
Martin Handford Martin Handford (born 27 September 1956)"Interview with Martin Handford"
...
. The books consist of a series of detailed double-page spread illustrations depicting dozens or more people doing a variety of amusing things at a given location. Readers are challenged to find a character named Wally (or Waldo) and his friends hidden throughout the pages. Wally is identified by his red-and-white-striped shirt,
bobble hat A knit cap, colloquially known as a beanie, is a piece of knitted headwear designed to provide warmth in cold weather. It usually has a simple tapered shape, although more elaborate variants exist. Historically made of wool, it is now often mad ...
, and glasses, but many illustrations contain
red herring A red herring is something that misleads or distracts from a relevant or important question. It may be either a logical fallacy or a literary device that leads readers or audiences toward a false conclusion. A red herring may be used intentiona ...
s involving deceptive use of red-and-white striped objects. Later entries in the long-running book series added other targets for readers to find in each illustration. The books have also inspired two television programmes (''
Where's Wally? ''Where's Wally?'' (called ''Where's Waldo?'' in North America) is a series of children's puzzle books created by English illustrator Martin Handford. The books consist of a series of detailed double-page spread illustrations depicting dozen ...
'' the 1991 animated series and ''
Where's Wally? ''Where's Wally?'' (called ''Where's Waldo?'' in North America) is a series of children's puzzle books created by English illustrator Martin Handford. The books consist of a series of detailed double-page spread illustrations depicting dozen ...
'' the 2019 animated series), a
comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...
and a series of video games. As of 2007, more than 73 million ''Where's Wally?'' books had been sold around the world since the debut of the series in 1987. The series has been translated into 26 languages and is published in over 50 countries.


History

In 1986, illustrator
Martin Handford Martin Handford (born 27 September 1956)"Interview with Martin Handford"
...
, a graduate of the
University for the Creative Arts The University for the Creative Arts is a specialist art and design university in Southern England. It was formed in 2005 as University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester when the Kent Institu ...
in
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
, was asked by his art director, David Bennett, at
Walker Books Walker Books is a British publisher of children's books, founded in 1978 by Sebastian Walker, Amelia Edwards, and Wendy Boase. In 1991, the success of Walker Books' ''Where's Wally?'' series enabled the company to expand into the American ma ...
in London, to develop a book of detailed crowd scenes, inspired by Bennett having seen Philippe Dupasquier's ''Busy Places'' series. Whilst the book was being prepared for
Bologna Book Fair The Bologna Children's Book Fair or La fiera del libro per ragazzi is the leading professional fair for children's books in the world. Since 1963, it is held yearly for four days in March or April in Bologna, Italy. It is the meeting place for al ...
, someone at Walker Books suggested the idea of adding a distinctive-looking character whom the reader could search for in the crowd scenes. After much thinking, Handford came up with the idea of "Wally", a world traveller and time travel aficionado who always dresses in red and white."Up Against the Waldo"
by Cyndi Stivers, 14 December 1990, ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
''. Retrieved 8 February 2010.
Sometimes it would take him up to eight weeks to draw a two-page sketch of the elusive "Wally" and the characters surrounding him."Interview with Martin Handford"
, Scholastic Book Club. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
The first ''Where's Wally?'' book was published on 25 June 1987.
''
Walker Books Walker Books is a British publisher of children's books, founded in 1978 by Sebastian Walker, Amelia Edwards, and Wendy Boase. In 1991, the success of Walker Books' ''Where's Wally?'' series enabled the company to expand into the American ma ...
''. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
''Where's Wally?'' books were published in the United Kingdom by Walker Books and in the United States under the title ''Where's Waldo?'' first by
Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries, it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emil ...
before being taken on by Walker Books' American subsidiary publishing company
Candlewick Press Candlewick Press, established in 1992 and located in Somerville, Massachusetts, is part of the Walker Books group. The logo depicting a bear carrying a candle is based on Walker Books's original logo. History Sebastian Walker launched Walker Boo ...
. The first four titles were originally printed in Italy, but later reprinted in China. The books became extremely popular and were localised for many different territories, with name changes for Wally in certain regions. The franchise also spawned other media in a more storyline-based form, including a 1991 television series, ''Where's Wally?'', a comic strip, ''Where's Wally?'' and a series of video games. As the series goes on, Wally progressively becomes harder to find, reducing his size on the page and surrounding him by more characters. In the first book, Wally was on average big. This was reduced to in the second book, in the third, and between in the fourth through seventh books. He has also been surrounded by more characters, from 225 on the first book's first page to about 850 on the last book's first page. In January 2007,
Entertainment Rights Entertainment Rights PLC (formerly known as Sleepy Kids PLC and SKD Media PLC) was a British multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate that specialised in television shows and cartoons, children's media, films, and distribution. ...
purchased the ''Where's Wally?'' franchise. On 1 April 2009, Entertainment Rights went into voluntary
administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...
. On the same day, Boomerang Media acquired all of Entertainment Rights' subsidiaries including Entertainment Rights itself, Big Idea and Classic Media. The following month, Boomerang Media began preparations to unify former British and US subsidiaries of Entertainment Rights under the name "Classic Media", while Big Idea would operate under its own name. The Entertainment Rights PLC company was folded in December 2010. In 2012, Classic Media was acquired by
DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...
. DreamWorks Animation was then acquired by
NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...
in 2016, thus
Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...
gaining the rights to most of Entertainment Rights' catalogue of works.


Characters

* ''Wally'', whose name was localised for certain international editions, for example ''Waldo'' in North American and Swedish editions. Over time, more characters were added to find in each scene. * ''Wilma'', Wally's friend first appeared in the ''Ultimate Fun Book'', and was replaced by her identical twin sister Wenda in the ''Where's Wally: The Magnificent Poster Book''. * ''Wenda'', a friend of Wally who replaced her twin sister Wilma for ''In Hollywood'' (although she previously appeared in ''The Magnificent Poster Book''). * ''Odlaw'', Wally's arch-enemy, who made his print debut in ''The Magnificent Poster Book''. He appears nearly the same as Wally, except that his clothes are yellow and black striped instead of red and white, his glasses have a blue tint to them, and he has a moustache. He also has a British accent in the
television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...
. Although it is told that "his bad deeds are many", he is not depicted in the books doing anything particularly nasty, but in the television series, he is frequently seen to be attempting to steal Wally's magical walking stick. His name "Odlaw" is simply a reversal of "Waldo" from the American editions, although he is still called "Odlaw" in the United Kingdom as well. * ''Woof'', Wally's dog, first appeared in ''The Ultimate Fun Book'', where he was identified as Wenda's dog. Only his tail can be found, with the exception of the final page of ''Where's Wally: The Wonder Book'', which depicts all of Woof, and the six activity books released between 1993 and 1995, starting with ''The Truly Terrific Activity Book'', where Woof shows himself to the reader. In the 2019 TV series, Woof returns in the episode "A Wanderer's Christmas" and the second season. * ''Arfolomew'', a grey dog who could be a miniature schnauzer and also known as ''Arf'' for short in the new series. * ''Wizard Whitebeard'', first seen in ''The Fantastic Journey''. His signature is his exceptionally long beard, which is often the key to finding him. In his first appearance, he was responsible for sending Wally on a quest to discover the truth about himself, and he has tagged along on Wally's travels ever since. His appearance in ''The Ultimate Fun Book'', however, is in only one scene in "Old Friends" and his presence is unmentioned in the book and acts as one of the background characters. * ''The Wally Watchers'' are Wally's devoted fan-club that first appeared in '' Where's Wally? The Ultimate Fun Book'' (1990). They turn up wherever Wally goes, dressed in the same red-and-white striped outfit. While 25 appear in most books, there are in comparison, 99 of them in the ''Ultimate Fun Book''. * In the earlier books, a character appears in every scene, which the reader must look to find out who it is. This is because no information on the characters is given in the books aside from the task to look for them. The characters appeared as background characters and all had something unique to them, like blonde hair or a ginger beard. In some cases, characters from previous scenes would also appear. * ''Odlulu'', Wally and Wenda's arch-nemesis, a villainous pre-teen female Anti-Wanderer who is a genderbend version of Odlaw and despises the Wanderers in the new series. She is plotting on obtain the Wanderer keys and take control of the world. She sometimes help out with Wally and Wenda for their quest and turn everything back to normal after causing chaos in a certain location. She sports a yellow baseball cap with black stripes and glasses with angular black frames, and shoulder-length black hair with a yellow streak. She wears a long-sleeved black and yellow top, and a yellow skirt, knee-high black socks with white cuffs and blue shoes. * ''Fritz'', a hungry ferret who is Odlulu's henchman and appeared in the new series. He mostly helps Odlulu with her plot, such as obtaining Wanderer keys and defeating the Wanderers. He sometimes distracted by different kinds of foods from around the world. In few episodes, he helps Odlulu steal the Wanderer key from the Wanderers (mostly Wally) so she can use for her own needs.


Publications


Primary books

As of 2024, there are seven primary Wally books. The books were released both in hard-cover (for the original books) and subsequently in paperback. Each contains around a dozen scenes with Wally hidden in them. Each book has additional hidden objects and/or characters hidden in each scene specific to that book. The books usually reserve telling the reader about some item(s) to find until the end of the book so that the reader will have to go through the book again. The books contain checklists for each scene of interesting things or people to find. # ''
Where's Wally? ''Where's Wally?'' (called ''Where's Waldo?'' in North America) is a series of children's puzzle books created by English illustrator Martin Handford. The books consist of a series of detailed double-page spread illustrations depicting dozen ...
'' (North American title: ''Where's Waldo?'') (1987) # ''
Where's Wally Now? ''Where's Wally Now?'' (called ''Find Waldo Now'' and later ''Where's Waldo Now?'' in the US) is the second '' Where's Wally?'' book. It was first published in 1988. In the book Wally travels through time as he visits many different locations and ...
'' (North American title: ''Find Waldo Now'', renamed ''Where's Waldo Now?'' later) (1988) # ''
Where's Wally? The Fantastic Journey ''Where's Wally? The Fantastic Journey'' (originally numbered with a "3"; originally called ''The Great Waldo Search'' in North America; now called ''Where's Waldo? The Fantastic Journey'') is the third '' Where's Wally?'' book, first released in ...
'' (North American title: ''The Great Waldo Search'', renamed ''Where's Waldo? The Fantastic Journey'' later) (1989) # ''
Where's Wally in Hollywood? ''Where's Wally in Hollywood?'' was released in 1993. In the book Wally, Wizard Whitebeard, Wenda, Woof, and Odlaw travel to movie and film sets in Hollywood. The book was re-released as a "Special Edition" version in 1997, moving Wally in each s ...
'' (North American title: ''Where's Waldo in Hollywood?'') (1993) # ''
Where's Wally? The Wonder Book ''Where's Wally? The Wonder Book'' (U.S. title ''Where's Waldo? The Wonder Book'') is the fifth book in the '' Where's Wally?'' illustration book series by Martin Handford, released in 1997. In the book Wally/Waldo, Wizard Whitebeard, Wenda, Woof ...
'' (North American title: ''Where's Waldo? The Wonder Book'') (1997) # '' Where's Wally? The Great Picture Hunt!'' (North American title: ''Where's Waldo? The Great Picture Hunt!'') (2006) # '' Where's Wally? The Incredible Paper Chase'' (North American title: ''Where's Waldo? The Incredible Paper Chase'') (2009) There have been three rounds of revised editions. In 1993, to coincide with the publication of ''In Hollywood'', the first three books were reprinted with Wenda, Woof and the Wally Watchers added to the original illustrations, and the books were numbered on the cover. A "pocket edition" of the first book was also published, in a tiny A6 format (). Wally is even harder to spot when shrunk to this degree, and later printings included a free magnifying lens. In 1997, to coincide with the publication of ''The Wonder Book'', special "Tenth Anniversary Editions" of the first four books were published with a distinct silver border on their front covers, and added later-introduced characters and objects to look for in every scene, and also moved Wally to different locations from the original versions. These special editions appeared in both standard and "pocket" formats. In 2007, for the 20th anniversary of the first book, the special editions of 1997 (and ''The Great Picture Hunt'') were re-released with a new cover into paperback format. The silver borders on the books were removed and instead, the books were numbered in the top left-hand corner of the cover. Aside from the new numbering system, some of the front covers were also revised otherwise; for example, the "NOW?" on the cover of ''Where's Wally Now?'' was given a 2D effect, but it was originally designed to look like a 3D shape.


Other books

In addition to the primary books, other books have also been published in the Wally franchise. The first alternate-format Wally book was the ''Ultimate Fun Book''. In addition to standard Wally scenes, this paperback activity book featured other types of games and activities, as well as cardboard punch-outs and stickers. ''The Magnificent Poster Book'', which was a large-format book of posters including five scenes from past books and six new scenes (later included in ''The Great Picture Hunt''). * '' Where's Wally? The Ultimate Fun Book'' (1990) ** Activity book * '' Where's Wally? The Magnificent Poster Book'' (1991) ** Larger book containing cut-out posters * ''Where's Wally? The Dazzling Deep-sea Divers Sticker Book'' (1994) ** Sticker book and play scene * ''Where's Wally? The Fabulous Flying Carpets Sticker Book'' (1994) ** Sticker book and play scene * ''A Where's Wally? Fun Fact Book: Plundering Pirates'' (2000) ** Educational Where's Wally? book with new scenes and facts * ''A Where's Wally? Fun Fact Book: Fighting Knights'' (2000) ** Educational Where's Wally? book with new scenes and facts * ''Where's Wally?'' (2008) ** A £1 World Book Day Book * ''Where's Wally? The Spectacular Poster Book'' (2010) ** Larger book containing cut-out posters * ''Where's Wally? The Search for the Lost Things'' (2012) * ''Where's Wally? 25th Anniversary Annual'' (2012) Several other "activity books" have also been published featuring art from the "Where's Wally" comic strip: * ''Where's Wally? The Truly Terrific Activity Book'' (1993) * ''Where's Wally? The Absolutely Amazing Activity Book'' (1993) * ''Where's Wally? The Wildly Wonderful Activity Book'' (1994) * ''Where's Wally? Simply Sensational Activity Book'' (1994) * ''Where's Wally? The Really Remarkable Activity Book'' (1995) * ''Where's Wally? The Completely Crazy Activity Book'' (1995) * ''Where's Wally? Bumper Activity Book'' (1995) – previous four books in one volume. The first six activity books mentioned were reprinted in 2009 in a smaller size with different packaging.


Collections


Publication details

* As of 2022, only the special editions of the original five books are still in print, as well as a paperback 2007 reprint of ''The Great Picture Hunt'' and a paperback 2010 reprint of ''The Incredible Paper Chase''. These books now also have "Special extra searches inside", according to the front covers. * 1997's ''The Wonder Book'' was the last numbered book in the series to contain new, original scenes, as ''The Great Picture Hunt'' and ''The Incredible Paper Chase'' contain both new scenes and older ones from ''The Ultimate Fun Book'' and ''The Magnificent Poster Book'', as these books are no longer in print. * The scene originally titled "Among the Pirates" is the most used, as it has appeared in 1991's ''The Magnificent Poster Book'', 2000's ''Plundering Pirates'', 2006's ''The Great Picture Hunt'', and a jigsaw puzzle.


Magazine

A series of geographical magazines for children was published in the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Portugal, Poland, Brazil, Spain, France, Hungary, Czech Republic, Malta, Bulgaria and Russia, called ''Wally's World''. In each issue Wally travelled to a different country or region of the world giving the reader interesting facts. 52 issues were published from January 1997 to January 1998, when ''Wally's History of the World'' began, focusing more on history than geography. The first issue was given away free with the last issue of ''Wally's World''.


Comic strip

For several years in the early and mid-1990s, ''Where's Wally?'' was turned into a Sunday newspaper comic/puzzle, drawn by
Stephan Martinière Stephan Martinière (born May 3, 1962) is a French science fiction and fantasy artist as well as cartoonist, concept illustrator and art director. Biography Martinière was born 3 May 1962 in Paris, France. He attended high school at Chambre D ...
, and distributed by
King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is an American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product License, licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, columnist, newspape ...
. The strip was later translated and reworked for international markets, including releases in book form in the US, using the regional name 'Waldo'. Several
activity book An activity book is a type of book, generally aimed at children, which contains interactive content such as games, puzzles, quizzes, pictures to colour and other elements that involve writing or drawing in the book itself. The book may, or may no ...
s of the comic strip were released in the mid-1990s: * ''Where's Wally: The Completely Crazy Activity Book'' * ''Where's Wally: The Really Remarkable Activity Book'' * ''Where's Wally: The Simply Sensational Activity Book'' * ''Where's Wally: The Wildly Wonderful Activity Book''


Adaptations in other media


Television series

A 13-episode animated series, ''
Where's Wally? ''Where's Wally?'' (called ''Where's Waldo?'' in North America) is a series of children's puzzle books created by English illustrator Martin Handford. The books consist of a series of detailed double-page spread illustrations depicting dozen ...
'', with
Townsend Coleman Townsend Putnam Coleman III (born May 28, 1954) is an American voice actor who has performed in many animated series and TV commercials beginning in the early 1980s. Among his most notable roles are Michaelangelo from ''Teenage Mutant Ninja ...
as the voice of Wally, was produced by
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for
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
in 1991 for the North American market under the "Waldo" name. The show was later translated for international markets, usually renaming the character to match the books of that country. The dialogue and theme song were recorded in alternative ''Wally'' versions, with the same voice cast of the original American production, in order to market the show in the UK. It was aired on ITV in the UK and the distribution rights to the show are currently held by
HIT Entertainment HIT Entertainment Limited (stylised as HiT) was a British-American entertainment company founded in 1982 as Henson International Television, the international distribution arm of The Jim Henson Company, by Jim Henson, Peter Orton, and Sophie Turn ...
. The second animated series by
DreamWorks Animation Television DreamWorks Animation Television (formerly DreamWorks Television Animation, abbreviated as DWATV) is an American animation studio that serves as the television production arm of DreamWorks Animation, itself a subsidiary of Universal Pictures an ...
aired on
Universal Kids Universal Kids was an American children's cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The channel launched on September 26, 2005, as PBS Kids Sprout, a preschool-oriented offshoot of ...
in 2019. The voice cast includes Joshua Rush as the voice of Waldo,
Haley Tju Haley Alexandra Tju () (born February 15, 2001) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Marcy Wu in the Disney Channel animated series ''Amphibia'', Nu Hai in the DreamWorks Animation series, '' Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny'', ...
as Wenda, Eva Carlton as Odlulu (the female equivalent to Odlaw),
Thomas Lennon Thomas Lennon (born August 9, 1970) is an American comedian, actor, and screenwriter. He plays Lieutenant Jim Dangle on the series ''Reno 911!'', Andrei Novak on '' Santa Clarita Diet'' and Felix Unger on '' The Odd Couple''. He is the screenw ...
as Wizard Whitebeard and
Piotr Michael Piotr Michael Walczuk (born March 27, 1988), known professionally as Piotr Michael, is an American voice actor and comedian. He is known for his role as Yoda in various ''Star Wars'' media, primarily the television series '' Star Wars: Young Jedi ...
as Woof. The series later moved to
Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...
.


Film

A film based on the ''Where's Wally?'' series of books has been pursued by various studios.
Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...
was one of the studios to take an interest in the idea but when the regime at
Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...
(Nickelodeon's corporate sister) changed, the project was cancelled. In June 2009,
Universal Studios Universal Studios may refer to: * Universal Studios, Inc., an American media and entertainment conglomerate ** Universal Pictures, an American film studio ** Universal Studios Lot, a film and television studio complex * Various theme parks operat ...
(who would later obtain ownership of the property through its acquisition of
Classic Media DreamWorks Classics is an American entertainment company owned by DreamWorks Animation, a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded as Classic Media in 2000 by Eric Ellenboge ...
's owner
DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...
in 2016) and Illumination had acquired the rights to turn ''Where's Wally?'' into a live-action film, but the project was also cancelled. In November 2011,
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...
and Classic Media announced a live-action film based on the ''Where's Waldo?'' series. Screenwriter
Todd Berger Todd Berger (born April 5, 1979) is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and novelist most prominently known for writing and directing the feature films ''It's a Disaster'', ''Cover Versions'', ''The Scenesters'', and the documentary ' ...
has been hired to write the story for the film, which was slated to be released in the summer of 2015. In March 2016,
Seth Rogen Seth Aaron Rogen (; born April 15, 1982) is a Canadian actor, comedian, and filmmaker. Known primarily for his comedic Leading actor, leading man roles in films, the accolades he has received include nominations for three Golden Globe Awards, ...
and
Evan Goldberg Evan D. Goldberg (born September 15, 1982) is a Canadian screenwriter, film producer and director. He has collaborated with his childhood friend Seth Rogen on a variety of films, including '' Superbad'', '' Pineapple Express'', '' This Is the En ...
were in talks to produce the film with their producing partner James Weaver and Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir to write the film, under their
Point Grey Pictures Point Grey (PGP) is a Canadian-American film and television production company, founded in 2011 by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The company is named after Point Grey Secondary School in Vancouver, where they met. History Founded by Seth Rog ...
banner. The 1994 comedy film '' Naked Gun : The Final Insult'', starring
Leslie Nielsen Leslie William Nielsen (February 11, 1926November 28, 2010) was a Canadian actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television programs, portraying more than 220 characters. He made his a ...
and
Priscilla Presley Priscilla Ann Presley (née Wagner, formerly Beaulieu; born May 24, 1945) is an American businesswoman and actress. She is the ex-wife of American singer Elvis Presley, as well as the cofounder and former chairperson of Elvis Presley Enterpris ...
, features a
cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...
by Wally at the end of the film during a scene that takes place at the
Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...
. During the 2012 Super Bowl, Wally was featured in a
MetLife MetLife, Inc. is the Holding company, holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, Annuity (US financial produ ...
commercial. As in the series, Wally was hard to find in the commercial.


Video games

A number of North American video games were developed using the US/Canada regional name "Waldo": * '' Where's Waldo?'' (1991) (
NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...
) * '' The Great Waldo Search'' (1992) (
NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...
,
SNES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania an ...
,
Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...
) * ''Wally wo Sagase!'' (1992) (
Arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...
) (Japan-exclusive title developed and published by
Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...
)
* ''Wally wo Sagase! Ehon no Kuni no Daibouken'' (1993) (
Super Famicom The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...
) (Japan-exclusive title published by
Tomy (trade name, trading as Takara Tomy in Asia and Tomy elsewhere) is a Japanese toy company. It was established in 1924 by Eiichirō Tomiyama as , became known for creating popular toys like the B-29 friction toy and luck-based game Pop-up Pi ...
)
* '' Where's Waldo at the Circus'' (1995) ( PC) * '' Where's Waldo?: Exploring Geography'' (1996) ( PC) * '' Where's Waldo? The Fantastic Journey'' (2009) ( PC, Mac,
Nintendo Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, ...
,
Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...
,
iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...
,
iPad The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...
,
iPod Touch The iPod Touch (stylized as iPod touch) is a discontinued line of iOS-based mobile devices designed and formerly marketed by Apple Inc. with a touchscreen-controlled user interface. As with other iPod models, the iPod Touch can be used as a po ...
) * ''Where's Waldo? in Hollywood'' (2010) (
iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...
,
iPad The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...
,
iPod Touch The iPod Touch (stylized as iPod touch) is a discontinued line of iOS-based mobile devices designed and formerly marketed by Apple Inc. with a touchscreen-controlled user interface. As with other iPod models, the iPod Touch can be used as a po ...
) * ''Waldo & Friends'' (2015) (
iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...
, Android) (published by Ludia, Inc. in 2015; no longer available for download)


Cereal boxes

In the early 1990s
Quaker Life Cereal Life is a breakfast cereal produced by the Quaker Oats Company. Introduced in 1961, the cereal has a brown, checked square pattern and mainly consists of oat flour, corn flour, added sugar, and whole-wheat flour. , because of the numerous variet ...
in the US carried various ''Where's Waldo?'' scenes on the back of the boxes along with collector's cards, toys and send-away prizes. This was shown in ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...
'' episode "
Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder" is the sixth episode of the eleventh season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 14, 1999. In the episode, Homer become ...
" where Homer shouts "Waldo, where are you?!" after looking at the scene on the cereal box as Waldo walks by the kitchen window.


Google Maps

On 1 April 2018,
Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panorama, interactive panoramic views of streets (Google Street View, Street View ...
added a minigame in which one can look for Wally and his friends around the world – in the
Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...
(Chile),
Surfers Paradise Surfing is a list of surface water sports, surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in Glossary of surfing, tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wind wave, wave of water, whic ...
beach (Australia), in the Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium (South Korea), at the
La Tomatina La Tomatina is a Spanish festival in Buñol, Spain where participants throw tomatoes at each other. It is said to be the biggest food fight in the world. From the festival's origin as a food fight between friends in the 1940s, it has become a f ...
festival (Spain), in
Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...
and in the Picard crater on the
Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
.


Real-life ''Where's Wally?'' phenomena


World record attempts

In 2009, 1,052 students, alumni, and members of the community at
Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...
in
New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...
'' for the largest gathering of people dressed as Wally. The event raised money for local
public schools Public school may refer to: *Public school (government-funded), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government *Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging private schools in England and Wales *Great Public Schools, ...
. In 2011, the previous record was broken when 3,872 people dressed as Wally gathered in
Merrion Square Merrion Square () is a Georgian architecture, Georgian garden square on the Southside Dublin, southside of Dublin city centre. History The square was laid out in 1762 to a plan by John Smyth and Jonathan Barker for the estate of Richard Fitz ...
, Dublin, Ireland. The record was beaten in 2017 when 4,626 people dressed as Wally gathered in Japan, after three failed attempts. The Waldo Waldo 5K has tried to break the record in a 5-kilometre fun run to raise money for the
Waldo Canyon Fire The Waldo Canyon fire was a forest fire that started approximately northwest of Colorado Springs, Colorado on June 23, 2012, and was declared 100 percent contained on July 10, 2012, after no smoke plumes were visible on a small portion of the ...
burn area in Colorado Springs, Colorado, US, every year since the fire in July 2012. The first attempt, on 21 October, had just over a thousand. The second attempt, on 27 October 2013, had over 2,700. The third attempt, on 26 October 2014, hosted 3,104 participants. The fourth attempt, on 17 October 2015, increased the count to 3,400 participants. The fifth attempt was made on 22 October 2016, with a final count of 3,524. The next race was held on 21 October 2017. The last race was held on 20 October 2018, with a final count of 3,809.


Real-life re-creation

On 12 September 2009, a re-creation took place in downtown Chicago. The re-creation featured all of the characters, Wally, Wenda, Wizard Whitebeard, Odlaw, and Woof, hiding throughout downtown Chicago and invited others to come and find them. Universities (such as the
University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...
) have had Where's Wally inspired societies, in which members may dress as Wally whilst playing games such as
hide-and-seek Hide-and-seek (sometimes known as hide-and-go-seek) is a children's game in which at least two players (usually at least three) conceal themselves in a set environment, to be found by one or more seekers. The game is played by one chosen playe ...
on campus grounds.


See also

* Wimmelbilderbuch – type of wordless picture book


References

{{Where's Wally? Book series introduced in 1987 British picture books Puzzle books Literary characters introduced in 1987 1980s fads and trends 1990s fads and trends Tomy games British novels adapted into television shows 1987 quotations Quotations from literature Series of children's books Walker Books books