Swimming in a sea of superheroes and a galaxy far, far away, we often forget that Disney is still dead set on remaking live action versions of all of their vault classics. Regardless of you might feel about the previous outings like the “Lion King” and “Beauty and the Beast,” both did gangbusters at the box office. The failure of “Dumbo” not withstanding, money talks the loudest to Disney, and 2 out of 3 ain’t bad enough to slow the remake train down.
It is, however, enough to relegate some releases to streaming. “Pinocchio,” (which has been in production since 2018) was set for a theatrical release until December 2020, a streaming release in November 2021, and ultimately a Disney+ release in the fall of 2023.
Today, Disney+ released the first image from “Pinocchio.” The live action update is stacked from top to bottom as far as casting and filmmakers. The film is directed by Robert Zemeckis, with cinematography by the prolific Don Burgess and scored by award winning and regular Zemeckis collaborator Alan Silverstri.
It stars Tom Hanks as Geppetto, Cynthia Erivo as The Blue Fairy, and Luke Evans as The Coachman. lending their voices, the film has Joseph Gordon Levitt voicing Jiminy Cricket, Keagan-Micheal Kay as “Honest” John Worthington Goodfellow, Lorraine Bracco as Sofia the Seagull, and relative newcomer Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Pinocchio.
That’s a lot of star power for remake no one actually asked for. Admittedly it’s hard to not have some intrigue give all that talent behind the camera, too. Luckily, we’re due for a trailer very soon.
“Pinocchio” is due to hit Disney+ in September of 2022.
