Disney just released the teaser trailer for another one of its live-action adaptations, Pinocchio. The company’s remake of its 1940 film of the same name is directed by Robert Zemeckis and stars frequent collaborator Tom Hanks as Geppetto, the man who builds Pinocchio and raises him as if he were a real boy.
Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, who you might recognize him from Netflix’s The Haunting of Bly Manor, will voice the titular puppet, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt will be playing Jiminy Cricket.
When does Pinocchio release?
Pinocchio arrives on Disney Plus on Sept. 8, 2022. It will air exclusively on Disney Plus and will be skipping a theatrical release, meaning the film will not be eligible for the Oscars. Of course, this film is not to be confused with Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, which will also release this year. That version is a stop-motion animated film that is set to be released on Netflix in December 2022.
The Disney version will undoubtedly be closer to its own 1940 version of Pinocchio, following the trend of its recent live-action remakes like Dumbo, The Lion King, and Mulan. Excitement for the new film is palpable, as Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks have not yet made a bad film together, having previously worked on Forrest Gump, Cast Away, and The Polar Express.
There are many different films containing everyone’s favorite puppet-turned-real-boy, as the original work has been in the public domain since 1940. Let’s hope the live-action remake ranks among the best of them.
Pinocchio is set to release on Disney Plus on Sept. 8, 2022 as part of the platform’s Disney Plus Day celebration.