There was a moment of concern when one of the writers behind Guillermo del Toro‘s stop-motion Pinocchio said that the project wasn’t moving forward, but now Gris Grimly has updated Bleeding Cool on the situation, and things don’t seem near as dire anymore. “I’m writing to clear up the rumor that has gotten started,” said Grimly. “It all started with misconstrued information that I passed along through my networks. But it has come to my knowledge that Pinocchio is indeed still kicking with interest from the studios. Although I thought it was going to lay quiet for a little while, I never thought it would be canceled. It’s too good.”
The animated project is still in pre-production through The Jim Henson Company. For now. Del Toro always has a lot on his plate, so even as this particular fantasy becomes a reality, it might be a while. They still need a distributor to ensure success, and that might be tricky. Of course, Disney has the honor of owning the most popular telling of the story (complete with a singing cricket with a bold sense of ethics), and while children born in 2010 will always see Disney as “the company that makes Star Wars,” their classic properties still command massive respect.
And since one of those icons is getting the Blu-ray treatment, they’ve released a new trailer for it. See if it can convince you to fall in love with The Little Mermaid all over again: