Mouse House may be fumbling one of the most lucrative media franchises in history, but it sure knows how to churn out live-action remakes. GeekTyrant reports that Robert Zemeckis (Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Back to the Future trilogy) just signed on to direct a live-action remake of Disney’s 1940 animated classic Pinocchio. Zemeckis will also co-write the screenplay alongside Chris Weitz who previously penned scripts for Antz, The Golden Compass and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney also wants to remake the 1942 animated film Bambi. The studio has hired Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel, Tomb Raider) and Lindsey Beer (Chaos Walking, Sierra Burgess Is a Loser) to write the script. This “live-action” remake will probably feature CGI-animated animals, just like last year’s The Lion King. That remake delighted the audience worldwide with a spectacle of realistic-looking, emotionless animals, grossing over $1.6 billion worldwide.
Disney’s Pinocchio first came out in 1940 when the studio had to actually hit the library for ideas instead of just recycling its own films. Based on a 19th-century Italian children’s novel by Carlo Collodi, Pinocchio was initially a box office flop due to World War II breaking out. However, it became the first animated feature to win competitive Academy Awards – for Best Original Score and Best Original Song. Bambi followed two years later. It was an adaptation of a 1923 novel Bambi, a Life in the Woods by Austrian writer Felix Salten. Bambi was nominated for three Academy Awards – Best Sound, Best Song, and Original Music Score. Both Pinocchio and Bambi are widely considered to be among the greatest animated films ever made.
