Pinocchio (2014)

Project History

When the project was first announced, Guillermo del Toro was slated to direct. However, he decided to opt out of this role in order to make At the Mountains of Madness. Gris Grimly and Mark Gustafson were set to replace him.

At the Mountains of Madness was in pre-production when studio execs discovered it was very similar to Ridley Scott's upcoming picture Prometheus. They told del Toro this was putting the picture at risk. Del Toro was ordered to change his vision into a PG-13 rated picture. He refused and the project was shelved. While del Toro was disappointed, it did leave an opening in his schedule. He was then brought back to the directing chair of Pinocchio.

It was later announced that while Grimly was no longer a part of the project, Gustafson had not left at all and was in fact directing alonside del Toro.