The ‘Pinocchio’ Multiverse Is Coming: Check Out the 3 ‘Pinocchio’ Remakes Being Released This Year, Including Guillermo del Toro’s
Don’t get us wrong, we love re-makes of classic fairytales, but sometimes, Hollywood can go a bit overboard. Recently, social media lit up with the revelation that there would be not one, not two, but three “Pinocchio” remakes hitting our screens in the upcoming year.
We all know that Guillermo Del Toro’s “Pinocchio” will premiere on Netflix this December, and, based on this teaser, Del Toro’s version looks phenomenal.
Guillermo Del Toro’s “Pinocchio” will be stop-motion animation, a labor-intensive art from the cult-favorite movies like “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Coraline.” The cast is star-studded, with Ewan McGregor playing a version of Jiminy Cricket, Tilda Swinton playing the Blue Fairy and Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, and Ron Perlman rounding out the voice cast.
But it looks like Guillermo Del Toro’s “Pinocchio” is going to have a bit of competition.
On Wednesday, Disney released a first-look photo of their upcoming live-action remake of the 1940 animated version of “Pinocchio.” And, it also looks incredible.
In the promo photo, Geppetto (played by Tom Hanks) is leaning over and looking at his beloved boy puppet. And the puppet is an a perfect replica of the 1940 animated version of “Pinocchio.” Based on that one photo alone, it looks like the movie will be a tear-jerker (after all, they didn’t hire Tom Hanks for nothing!).
Disney’s version of “Pinocchio” also has a stellar cast lined up. Joseph Gordon-Levitt will voice Jiminy Cricket, Cynthia Erivo will play the Blue Fairy and Keegan-Michael Key will voice the wily fox, Honest John.
To put the cherry on top of the “Pinocchio” multiverse, there is a third remake of “Pinocchio,” called “Pinocchio: A True Story,” arriving on-demand and straight-to-DVD on March 22 this year. This Russian-animated, Lionsgate-produced version of “Pinocchio” doesn’t appear to have the same amount of… care put into it as the two aforementioned versions.
The Lionsgate version has made waves on the internet for an eyebrow-raising trailer that has since gone viral. Lionsgate shared a clip of “Pinocchio: A True Story” to their social media pages, accompanied by the caption: “the yassification of #pinocchio.” You’ll have to hear the clip to see what they’re referring to.
In this version, comedian Pauly Shore will be voicing Pinocchio and voice actor Tom Kenny (SpongeBob himself) will be voicing Geppetto.
It’s safe to say that Lionsgate’s version of the beloved classic is going to be very different from Netflix and Disney versions.
Naturally, Twitter users argued over which Pinocchio looked the best.
There are the artistically inclined who value Del Toro’s unique take on the design of the wooden puppet, taking a more whimsical route than the Disney version does.
But the Disney die-hards will stan for the House of Mouse come hell or high water.
And of course, there a quite a few critics who are open to any “Pinocchio” version as long as it’s not the Lionsgate one.
Well, it looks like there will be enough “Pinocchio” content by the end of this year to launch a Pinocchio-focused streaming service. Which one will you be watching?
