Following the billion dollar success of Tim Burton’s lackluster “Alice In Wonderland,” studios are falling over themselves to bring fables and fairy tales to the big screen. So it’s no surprise to hear that producer Dan Jinks, who worked on “Big Fish,” is using Burton’s film as a template for a live action version of “Pinocchio.”
The project, set up at Warner Bros., will try and correct failed or botched live adaptations that have been developed in the past. There was Roberto Benigni’s 2002 film, which was so bad it single-handedly tanked his Hollywood career, and WB’s previous attempt to bring the tale to the bring screen via Francis Ford Coppola that ended up in a bitter lawsuit. Bryan Fuller (“Heroes,” “Pushing Daisies,” “Dead Like Me”) has been tasked to write the film.
While Pinocchio is certainly great material, we can’t think of anything worse to try and duplicate than Burton’s phoned in ‘Alice.’ Though, again, given that no one seemed to care it was a very pale imitation of Burton’s much better, earlier work and it made a shitload of cash, we can’t say we’re surprised either. But if this one isn’t your cup of tea, there’s also Guillermo del Toro’s gestating version with Nick Cave doing the music. Awesome. [Variety]