Deadline reports that Walt Disney Studios is embarking on yet another live-action version of one of their famous animated films with a Pinocchio “inspired” movie. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape writer Peter Hedges will pen the film, which will center on the wooden puppet who dreams of becoming a “real boy,” and is described as being “about the relationship between a father and son, the ramifications of lying and creating stories and living in a fantasy world.”
The original Pinocchio, based on the 1883 novel The Adventures Of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, first debuted in theaters in 1940 and won two Academy Awards. A sequel to the animated film was in development as recently as 2001, though it was eventually cancelled.
This marks yet another live-action version of a classic cartoon from Walt Disney Studios, including last year’s Maleficent, the recently-released Cinderella, the in-production The Jungle Book, the upcoming Beauty and the Beast, and the recently-announced Dumbo, Mulan, and Winnie the Pooh.
Another Pinocchio film is in development as well with Pacific Rim director Guillermo del Toro attached. That version is being developed as a stop-motion animated 3D film.
