There’s a new animated version of the Pinocchio story in development. Daily Variety reports that Hellboy director Guillermo del Toro and the Jim Henson Co. are mounting a stop-motion feature film based on the 19th century book The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. This darker take on the classic tale will be directed by Gris Grimly and Adam Parrish King. Brian and Lisa Henson are producing.
Del Toro will exec produce and is working on the script with Grimly, an artist and storyteller who is best known for his darkly whimsical children’s books including a 2002 telling of Pinocchio. Adam Parish King made the 2006 stop-motion short The Wraith of Cobble Hill, which was named best short at the Sundance film festival that year.
The Pinocchio film is expected to take about three years to complete. In the meantime, Del Toro will be busy with a number of projects, including New Line Cinema’s and MGM’s The Hobbit, which he is directing and co-writing with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. The story will be made into two films. Del Toro will also revisit some classic Universal monsters. A three-year deal with the studio has him attached to adaptations of Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Not exactly known for stop-motion, the Jim Henson Co. specializes in puppetry and has recently moved into CG animation using a proprietary system that allows puppeteers to create performances in real-time. The company currently has the preschool series Sid the Science Kid airing on PBS Kids and other broadcasters, and recently shopped the new animated kids shows The Skrumps and Dinosaur Train at MIPCOM.
Disney’s 1940 animated Pinocchio is the best-known telling of the story, which has been retold a number of times in film and television using animation, live-action and a combination of the two.
