Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is being added to the Criterion Collection.
On September 18, 2023, the Criterion Collection announced three new titles being added in December 2023. These titles include 2022’s Guillermo del Torro’s Pinocchio, The Red Balloon and Other Stories: Five Films by Albert Lamorisse, and 1961’s Blast of Silence.
Announcing our DECEMBER 2023 Criterion Collection titles!A collection of wide-eyed fantasies for the whole family & a classic fable reinvented through boundary-pushing stop-motion animation. Plus! A new Blu-ray edition of a blackhearted noir set in Manhattan at Christmastime. pic.twitter.com/1Lvg2v5Eek
— Criterion Collection (@Criterion) September 18, 2023
On December 12, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio will be released on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD, courtesy of the Criterion Channel. The stop-motion movie was originally released on Netflix in December 2022 following a limited theatrical run. It went on to win Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards.
“A classic tale is reborn through the inspired imagination of cinematic dream-weaver Guillermo del Toro, directing alongside Mark Gustafson,” Criterion’s description reads. “Realized through boundary-pushing, breathtakingly intricate stop-motion animation, this dark rendering of the fable of the puppet boy and his maker—which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature—daringly transfers the story to Fascist Italy, where the irrepressible Pinocchio gradually learns what it means to be human through his experiences of war, death, and sacrifice. Featuring the voices of Ewan McGregor, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, and Christoph Waltz, this Pinocchio imbues the oft-told tale with a bold new resonance about living with courage and compassion.”
Special features featured in Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio’s release include:
- 4K digital master, supervised by directors Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson, with Dolby Atmos
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- Handcarved Cinema, a new documentary featuring del Toro, Gustafson, and cast and crew, including the film’s puppet creators, production designers, and animation supervisor
- Directing Stop-Motion, a new program featuring del Toro and Gustafson
- New conversation between del Toro and film critic Farran Smith Nehme
- New interview with curator Ron Magliozzi on The Museum of Modern Art’s 2022 exhibition devoted to the film
- New program on the eight rules of animation that informed the film’s production
- Panel discussion featuring del Toro, Gustafson, production designer Guy Davis, composer Alexandre Desplat, and sound designer Scott Martin Gershin, moderated by filmmaker James Cameron
- Conversation among del Toro, Gustafson, and author Neil Gaiman
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing and English descriptive audio
- PLUS: Essays by film critic Matt Zoller Seitz and author Cornelia Funke
The Red Balloon and Other Stories: Five Films by Albert Lamorisse also comes to Blu-ray and DVD on December 12. Included in the release are 1956’s The Red Balloon, 1953’s White Mane, 1951’s Bim, the Little Donkey, 1960’s Stowaway in the Sky, and 1965’s Circus Angel.
Directed and co-written by Allen Baron, Blast of Silence gets a Blu-ray release from the Criterion Channel on December 5.