‘Pinocchio Unstrung’ Pulls Some Strings in Theaters This July

From ITN, the company behind 2024’s micro-budget smash hit Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey, comes the ultra-gory Pinocchio Unstrung, in which Pinocchio wants to be a real boy so badly he’ll go on a gory, murderous rampage to get there.

The studio announced today that the twisted take on the children’s classic story will open in theaters on July 24, via Viva Pictures.

The dark coming-of-age reimagining of Pinocchio follows the iconic puppet’s disturbing journey toward becoming real.

It stars Richard Brake (31, The Strangers) as Geppetto, Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street) as a terrifying Cricket, and Cameron Bell as James.

The official description reads, “A chilling reimagining of the familiar fable, ‘Pinocchio Unstrung’ unfolds inside an elite London prep school. Influenced by a sinister Cricket (Robert Englund) and created by Geppetto (Richard Brake), Pinocchio launches a violent crusade to carve himself into a real boy like his brother James, one piece at a time.”

The film is written and directed by Rhys Frake-Waterfield.

Emmy winner Todd Masters oversees the practical animatronics, which look phenomenal. ITN Distribution is overseeing the release, with a theatrical date currently being scheduled worldwide. Premiere Entertainment Group is repping sales.

Pinocchio Unstrung is the latest standalone addition to Jagged Edge’s growing low-budget Twisted Childhood Universe, which currently includes Blood and Honey and its sequel, Bambi: The Reckoning and Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare. A third Blood and Honey is set to shoot soon, while Poohniverse Monsters Assemble, the Avengers-esque crossover film bringing all the characters together for an IP bloodbath, is in development.

Variety first reported the news.