Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, or simply Pinocchio, is a 2022 stop-motion animated musical fantasy film directed by Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water) and Mark Gustafson, based on Grim Grimly’s design from his 2002 edition of the 1883 Italian novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. It marks the animated feature film directorial debut of del Toro. The film was written by del Toro and Patrick McHale (Adventure Time) and stars the voices of Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi, Trainspotting), David Bradley (Game of Thrones), Gregory Mann, Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things), Cate Blanchett (Thor: Ragnarok), John Turturro (The Big Lebowski), Ron Perlman (Hellboy), Tim Blake Nelson (O’Brother Where Art Thou?), Burn Gorman (Pacific Rim), Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) and Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton).
Produced by Netflix Animation, The Jim Henson Company, and ShadowMachine in co-production with El Taller del Chucho and Necropia Entertainment, Pinocchio was announced by del Toro in 2008 and originally scheduled to be released in 2013 or 2014, but the project went into development hell. In January 2017, McHale was announced to co-write the script, but in November 2017, the production was suspended as no studios were willing to provide financing. The production was revived the following year after being acquired by Netflix.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio will serve as a darker version of the classic children’s fairy tale of a wooden puppet that transforms into a real living boy and is scheduled to be released in select theaters in November 2022, followed by its streaming release on Netflix December 9th, 2022. Watch the official trailers below.