Disney+ Releases New Trailer for Robert Zemeckis’s Pinocchio

Disney’s live-action remakes of classic children’s cartoons continues next month. On the heels of Aladdin, Mulan, and The Lion King comes Pinocchio, a real-life retelling of the famous tale. Like the aforementioned live-action adaptations who utilized the talents of Will Smith, Jet Li, and Beyoncé, Pinocchio has assembled an A-List ensemble to stand behind Benjamin Evan Ainsworth’s titular puppet. Tom Hanks, Cynthia Erivo, Luke Evans, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Keegan-Michael Key and more round out the supporting cast, while legendary director Robert Zemeckis helms the project. 

As the film inches closer to its Disney+ debut date, the studio has aired a new trailer. This second trailer features significantly more footage of Pinocchio, who interacts with Hanks’ Geppetto and his fellow lively animatronic friends. The trailer culminates with Pinocchio getting kidnapped, leaving Geppetto concerned. From there, the screen erupts with colorful lights and fireworks and Pinocchio discovers the world around him. The trailer’s tag features Pinocchio’s infamous growing nose, which expands whenever he tells a lie.

Pinocchio finds itself in the rare spot of going straight to Disney+ rather than receiving any kind of theatrical release. Disney+ has had plenty of exclusive movies before, including fellow live-action remake Lady and the Tramp as well as Pixar projects Luca and Turning Red, but this is the most high-profile original film for the house of mouse’s streamer to date given the talent involved.

This live-action film is not to be confused with Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, which is also being released this year. That film is being shot in stop-motion and also boasts an impressive ensemble. The likes of Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz, Ron Perlman, Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, and more lend their vocal talents to del Toro’s animated adaptation.

Disney+’s version has been in development for nearly a decade, as the studio first expressed interest in making a Pinocchio film in April 2015. From there, Sam Mendes (1917) entered talks to direct, but ultimately departed the project in November 2017. Zemeckis entered negotiations in October 2019, and the pieces began to fall into place. Hanks flirted with doing the movie on two separate occasions, initially exiting talks in November 2018 but rejoining in August 2020 once Zemeckis was on board. Zemeckis and Hanks had worked together a number of times before, including on Forrest Gump, Cast Away, and The Polar Express.

Pinocchio begins streaming on Disney+ Day, which goes down on September 8th.