It looks like Disney is going back to the drawing board with their live-action adaptation of their animated classic Pinocchio.

Harry Potter And The Cursed Child Playwright Jack Thorne has been brought on to rewrite the script for the film. Chris Weitz (Rogue One, Cinderella) wrote the first draft.

The studio is aiming to begin production in June in both the UK and Italy and is expected to shoot through September. The film will have a budget of over $150 million, Disney’s live-action remakes of Beauty and the Beast and The Jungle Book had similar budgets, so expect the House of Mouse to put Pinocchio on a grand scale visually.

In an interview with Discussing Film back in January, the film’s cinematographer Seamus McGarvey had revealed that director Paul King (Paddington 2) walked away from the project due to “family reasons.” Disney is currently searching for a new director. Tom Hanks (Toy Story franchise) was in talks to star in the project as the fatherly figure Geppetto, but it appears he may have left the project as well.

Released in 1940, Pinocchio was the second animated movie made by Disney, after 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. It adapted the Italian story by Carlo Collodi about a wooden boy puppet crafted by an old carver named Geppetto. The boy is brought to life by a fairy who says he will become a real boy if he shows bravery. The character of Jiminy Cricket becomes his de facto conscience and tried to steer him in the right direction. What follows is a series of adventures that include Pinocchio being kidnapped to be part of a puppet show, getting turned into a donkey, and being swallowed by a whale.

Pinocchio currently has no release date as of yet.

Source: Collider