Warner Bros. Wants to Give ‘Pinocchio’ the Tim Burton Treatment

  

Warner Bros. seems to have a clear vision on who should bring their live-action version of Pinocchio to the big screen, and he has a vision all his own.  According to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio has offered the movie to Tim Burton and it appears he is very interested.  Burton in turn has approached Robert Downey Jr. to play the wood-carving Gepetto. 

After Alice in Wonderland’s wildly successful and profitable run in 2010, it’s a no-brainer that Warner Bros. is looking to hand their project over to Burton.   

The Pinocchio story was first published in an Italian children's book written by Carlo Collodi and has been adapted several times, including the 1940 animated Disney classic.  This version was first announced back in 2010, and focuses on Gepetto’s quest to reunite with his missing creation.  Dan Jinks (American Beauty) is producing and Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies) wrote the screenplay. 

Just like the competing Snow White flicks melodrama, Pinocchio has more than one production underway.  The Jim Henson Company is also developing a story of the boy puppet; theirs is a stop-motion version with a script written by Guillermo del Toro and Gris Grimley. 

The most curious aspect of this announcement is that Burton’s normal go-to-guy isn’t rumored to be involved - yet.  Who better to play the wooden boy than the master of odd characters, the one and only Johnny Depp himself?