Sam Mendes is no longer pulling the strings on Disney’s live-action Pinocchio movie.
The director has exited the animation adaptation, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. The feature, based on the classic 1940 cartoon, was penned by Rogue One scripter Chris Weitz.
This isn’t the first Disney project the Oscar-winning director has dropped. He was previously in talks for the live-action James and the Giant Peach adaptation before exiting the movie for Pinocchio.
After Bill Condon’s Beauty and the Beast pulled in over $1 billion at the worldwide box office, the studio has multiple live-action movies based on their classic animation in the pipeline. Jon Favreau’s Lion King movie will hit theaters on July 19, 2019, while Tim Burton’s Dumbo movie and Guy Ritchie’s movie musical Aladdin are currently filming.
