Guillermo Del Toro Set To Reveal One Of His Longest-Awaited Movies
It's finally on its way!
Director Guillermo del Toro has long been seen as the pinnacle of auteur cinematic storytellers, with stories that are remarkably personal and stylized. With hit films such as Nightmare Alley, The Shape of Water and Pan’s Labyrinth, del Toro seems to know how to take audiences into worlds they never dreamed of before. His latest film is one that fans have been waiting for a long time, and yet, it’s a tale as old as time itself: Pinocchio.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is expected to be released via Netflix in December 2022, but a select lucky few will have the chance to watch it before it premieres to wider audiences. As noted by The Hollywood Reporter, the film will be presented with a first-look at the Annecy International Animation Festival;, which will take place in Annecy, France from June 13-18, 2022. While the entire movie will not premiere at the festival, footage from the stop-motion experience will be shown to coincide with the festival’s animation schedule block. Another Netflix Animation selection, The Sea Beast, will have its world premiere at the festival, which is helmed by Chris Williams of Big Hero 6 fame.
Currently, Pinocchio seems to be a hot commodity as there is a competing project in the works from Disney at the moment. While Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson’s adaptation of Pinocchio comes from the source material and novel written by Carlo Collodi called The Adventures of Pinocchio, it will be seen as a darker version of the story about a wooden puppet that magically transforms into a human boy, per IMDb. Disney will be releasing their own version of Pinocchio in September 2022, directed by Robert Zemeckis, which will be a live-action take on their classic 1940 animated film of the same name. Del Toro and Gustafson’s interpretation will have characters voiced by Cate Blanchett, Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz, and Gregory Mann. Disney’s will have their characters played by Tom Hanks, Luke Evans, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Keegan-Michael Key, Cynthia Erivo.
Disney has been known for live-action versions of classic animated films from their vault, as they have reimagined many of their hit animated movies in recent years. Audiences have seen Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King brought to modern times, and their upcoming release of The Little Mermaid will be directed by Rob Marshall, debuting in 2023. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio has long been rumored by the director, even as he took to his Twitter account back in January 2022 to showcase some footage of the stop-motion creation.
At this point, it’s anybody’s guess as to which version of Pinocchio will be the bigger draw in 2022. Disney has a great reputation for their adaptations, but Guillermo del Toro is probably a better storyteller overall. He seems to understand how to bring about the darker side of certain plot points in his films, setting the scene for many scary choices that the character of Pinocchio will undoubtedly face. But if anyone can make a simple story into a grand adventure, del Toro is certainly up to the challenge.
