Netflix Releases Teaser For ‘Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio,’ Announces Dec 2022 Release

It’s official: Guillermo del Toro’s very-long-awaited animated take on the Pinocchio tale is coming out this year, in December.

The streamer has released a teaser for the film, a stop-motion musical. It introduces Sebastian J. Cricket, this film’s version of the Talking Cricket, who first appeared in Carlo Collodi’s 1883 Italian book The Adventures of Pinocchio, upon which the film is based. Sebastian is presented as the story’s narrator, announcing that he “actually lived in the heart of the wooden boy.” Watch the teaser below:

This is del Toro’s first animated feature, although he created the cg series Tales of Arcadia for Netflix. The Mexican filmmaker is directing alongside Mark Gustafson, animation director on Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. The film is produced with The Jim Henson Company and Shadowmachine.

The cast features Ewan McGregor as Cricket, David Bradley as Geppetto, and Gregory Mann as Pinocchio. It also includes Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, Ron Perlman, Tim Blake Nelson, Burn Gorman, Christoph Waltz, and Tilda Swinton.

When it comes to stop motion, Netflix is on a roll. It just released anthology film The House, and Henry Selick’s Wendell & Wild is also due out this year. The company is strengthening its ties to Aardman, with new Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit features on the way.