After much speculation, Disney has made it official this week that Robert Zemeckis will be directing and co-writing (with Chris Weitz, who co-wrote the 2015 Cinderella) its new live-action version of Pinocchio.
This remake/reboot of the 1940 animated feature (Disney’s second, after Snow White), itself based on the book The Adventures of Pinocchio, by Carlo Collodi is just the latest re-imagined offering coming down the House of Mouse pipeline (preceded by no less than FIVE live-action versions of its animated properties in 2019 alone).
Zemeckis is of course no stranger to big studio, effects-heavy films (Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Forrest Gump etc.), so this particular project would seem like a good fit.
There are rumors that the film may have a darker tone (the original feature provided much nightmare-fuel to several generations of kids, including kidnappings, slavery, involuntary donkey-transformations and attempted giant-whale ingestions) which follows what the studio has done with properties like Dumbo and Maleficent.
While the Castaway director has a long track-record of successful films, he could use a big hit right now, after his 2018 Welcome to Marwen bombed badly at the box-office.
Zemeckis is currently in post-production for Roald Dahl’s The Witches at Warner Bros. Production for Pinocchio is set to begin later this year, but no casting announcements have yet been made.