Netflix has offered up a first look at Guillermo Del Toro's new take on classic tale Pinocchio.
The film is a dark retelling of Carlo Collodi's beloved 1883 fairytale about a wooden puppet who comes to life and features an all-star cast. And, in further good news, it's coming later this year – December 2022, in fact.
Shot in stop-motion animation like recent Netflix project in The House, the first teaser shows off Ewan McGregor introducing the latest take on this movie adventure, which you can see it below:
What has Guillermo Del Toro done differently with his take on Pinocchio?
Collodi's story has been put on screens a number of times before, most famously in 1940 by Walt Disney. But Del Toro's take on the story promises to be much darker, so much so that he has been struggling to get a studio to back him.
After numerous failed attempts going all the way back to 2008, Netflix have finally stepped up and financed the film.
Del Toro's take on the story is set in the 1930s, with Italy in the grip of fascism, and will follow Geppetto, the poor carpenter who decides to carve himself a marionette in order to make a living as a puppeteer.
When he is given a piece of enchanted wood, Geppetto carves the puppet, which he names Pinocchio. Sadly, it begins abusing the old man and quickly falls in with the wrong crowd...
Among the key cast are Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Ron Perlman, Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz, Cate Blanchett and Tim Blake Nelson. John Turturro, Burn Gorman and Stranger Things' Finn Wolfhard are also involved, while newcomer Gregory Mann voices the puppet itself. The Jim Henson Company, the iconic puppetry company behind the likes of The Muppets, has collaborated on the project.
Isn't there another Pinocchio coming?
Indeed there is. Director Robert Zemeckis is making a live-action version of the story for Disney Plus, and this film's cast is just as stacked with top talent as Del Toro's. Tom Hanks, Cynthia Erivo, and Luke Evans are among its number, as well as Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Keegan-Michael Key and Lorraine Bracco in voice roles.
Guess when it's due out? December 2022. Expect a Pinocchio-sized duel between these two titanic streamers later this year...
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