Disney, the animation giant that brought the classic children's tales into the small screen and the big screen has solidified its course to bring its animated films into life. With its continued success from the live-action adaptation of various Disney classics such as "Alice In Wonderland", "Maleficent" and the company's recent live-action movie success, "Cinderella". With the latter's $400 million global achievement, there's no doubt that the House of Mouse is definitely in the right track.
A live-action remake of Carlo Collodi's 1883 book which has been made into Disney's own animated film in the 1940s received a green light and is now in the early stages of production. Various classical Disney animated films such as "Dumbo", "Winnie the Pooh" and "Mulan" are also reported to be in early stages of production. With the studio's announcement of a live-action remake of "The Jungle Book" to be released in 2016 and "Beauty and the Beast" to be released in 2017, "Pinocchio"'s premiere might be pushed back in the late 2018 or early 2019.
Hedges to pen the adaptation, Del Torro to compete with live-action movie?
Peter Hedges, the director behind "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" and "The Odd Life of Timothy Green" has been confirmed to be on board to pen the children's film. Although Collodi's original tale revolved around the humor and moral lesson behind Pinocchio's lies, Hedges will draw inspiration and focus to the father and son relationship instead.
Before Disney decided to do a live-action movie remake, Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth) was already working on a stop-motion animation of "Pinocchio" since 2008. But with the director's darker take on the story, Disney said no to the project. Del Toro's version might create a competition with Disney's version. But with Guillermo signing up to direct the "Pacific Rim 2", it looks like there won't be any competition at all.
Who would you like to play as Pinocchio, Geppetto (Pinocchio's father) and the cricket? Sound off below! Keep checking back for more movie updates.
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