Disney is set to release a live-action and CGI film retelling of Italian author Carlo Collodi and illustrator Enrico Mazzanti’s Pinocchio, the classic children’s tale that follows a puppet’s journey to escape his owner to become a “real boy.”
The film signed on plenty of big names, including Academy Award- winning director Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future; Forrest Gump). Zemeckis reunites with actor Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump; Saving Private Ryan) who stars as puppeteer Geppetto; moral conscience Cricket is played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer); Blue Fairy is played by Tony and Emmy Award winner Cynthia Erivo (The Color Purple); and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth (The Haunting of Bly Manor) is playing the film’s titular character.
Collodi’s 1883 children’s novel has had many lives, the most popular film adaptation being Disney’s initial animated film released in 1940. The original film won two Oscars, and cemented Pinocchio as a part of the growing Disney canon.
The beloved marionette will also star in another adaptation of the tale late this year, in director Guillermo del Toro’s (The Shape of Water; Pan’s Labyrinth) animated retelling with a dark twist. Actors slated for del Toro’s film include Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, and Finn Wolfhard.
The new Disney adaptation will be released exclusively on Disney+ on September 8.
