Filmmaker Robert Zemeckis is aboard on Disney’s live-action remake of its animated classic Pinocchio. According to reports, Zemeckis will also co-write the next draft with Chris Weitz (Bambi) for a possible fall or winter production start.
Andrew Miano and Weitz are producing Pinocchio through their Depth of Field label, with Jack Rapke and Jackie Levine serving as executive producers. Zemeckis and Weitz will write off the previous draft that the latter penned with Simon Farnaby.
The original 1940 Disney animated classic film is adapted from the Italian story by Carlo Collodi about a wooden boy puppet crafted by an old carver named Geppetto. The boy is brought to life by a fairy who says he will become a real boy if he shows bravery. The character of Jiminy Cricket becomes his de facto conscience and tried to steer him in the right direction. What follows is a series of adventures that include Pinocchio being kidnapped to be part of a puppet show, getting turned into a donkey, and being swallowed by a whale.
Zemeckis next is Warner Bros. The Witches, based on the Roald Dahl novel, starring Anne Hathaway and releasing on 9 October. He is also the producer on Amblin’s Tom Hanks sci-fi pic Bios which is scheduled for an 2 October release via Universal.
The film is expected to have a budget of over $150 million, Disney’s live-action remakes of Beauty and the Beast and The Jungle Book had similar budgets, so expect the House of Mouse to put Pinocchio on a grand scale visually.