Disney has released a trailer for the upcoming live-action version of Pinocchio starring Tom Hanks. The film is set to premiere later this year, dropping on Disney+ on September 8. The story and character of Pinocchio are in the public domain, so there have been dozens of movie versions over the years, with one coming from Hellboy director Guillermo del Toro in December on Netflix. What makes this one different, of course, is the fact that Disney’s iconic animated movie gives them iconography to work with that is closely associated with the character of Pinocchio, but is in fact exclusive to Disney.
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You can see a clear example of that in the trailer, where we get to see the iconic design from the 1940 Pinocchio cartoon, with the yellow-and-blue hat and cherubic face. We’re going to assume working with that volleyball on Castaway really helped prepare Hanks for working with computer-generated co-stars.
You can see the teaser below.
In Pinocchio, a puppeteer named Gepetto (Hanks) essentially wishes one of his puppets to life out of loneliness and desperation. The puppet, Pinocchio, goes on an adventure in the hopes of making himself “a real boy” rather than just animated wood and strings.
Back to the Future and Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis is directing the remake, with Tom Hanks starring as Gepetto. This will be the previous flirtation with the animated world that Hanks and Zemeckis have had, since the pair collaborated on a CG film adaptation of The Polar Express in 2004.
While some filmmakers have objected to direct-to-streaming as a release strategy for their tentpoles, it does not seem as if Zemeckis has an issue with the plans. Disney announced last December that Pinocchio would be headed straight to their app, and have had success so far blending Disney+ exclusives, simultaneous releases, and theatrical releases.
“Even with the disruption caused by COVID-19, we’ve been able to effectively manage our businesses while also taking bold, deliberate steps to position our company for greater long-term growth,” Disney CEO Bob Chapek said last year. “The real bright spot has been our direct-to-consumer business, which is key to the future of our company, and on this anniversary of the launch of Disney+ we’re pleased to report that, as of the end of the fourth quarter, the service had more than 73 million paid subscribers – far surpassing our expectations in just its first year.”
In addition to Hanks, Disney’s Pinocchio will star Cynthia Erivo as The Blue Fairy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the voice of Jiminy Cricket, Luke Evans as the Coachman, Keegan-Michael Key as Honest John, and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth in the title role.
