Pinocchio (1940 film)

Pinocchio
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Supervising Directors Ben Sharpsteen Hamilton Luske Sequence Directors Bill Roberts Norman Ferguson Jack Kinney Wilfred Jackson T. Hee
Story by	Ted Sears Otto Englander Webb Smith William Cottrell Joseph Sabo Erdman Penner[1] Aurelius Battaglia
Based on	The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
Produced by	Walt Disney
Starring	Cliff Edwards Dickie Jones Christian Rub Walter Catlett Charles Judels Evelyn Venable Frankie Darro
Music by	Leigh Harline Paul J. Smith
Color process	Mulitplane TenchiCOLOR
Production company	Walt Disney Productions
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures
Release dates	February 7, 1940 (1940-02-07) (Center Theatre)[2] February 23, 1940 (1940-02-23) (United States)[3]
Running time	88 minutes
Country	United States of America
Language	English (USA/UK)
Budget	$2.6 million[4]
Box office	$164 million

Pinocchio is a 1940 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Loosely based on Carlo Collodi's 1883 Italian children's novel The Adventures of Pinocchio, it is the studio's second animated feature film, as well as the third animated film overall produced by an American film studio, after Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Fleischer Studios' Gulliver's Travels (1939). With the voices of Cliff Edwards, Dickie Jones, Christian Rub, Walter Catlett, Charles Judels, Evelyn Venable, and Frankie Darro, the film follows a wooden puppet, Pinocchio, who is created by an old woodcarver, Geppetto, and brought to life by a blue fairy. Wishing to become a real boy, Pinocchio must prove himself to be "brave, truthful, and unselfish." Along his journey, Pinocchio encounters several characters representing the temptations and consequences of wrongdoing, as a cricket named Jiminy, who takes the role of Pinocchio's conscience, attempts to guide him in matters of right and wrong.

The film was adapted by several storyboard artists from Collodi's book. The production was supervised by Ben Sharpsteen and Hamilton Luske, and the film's sequences were directed by Norman Ferguson, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, and Bill Roberts. Pinocchio was a groundbreaking achievement in the area of effects animation, giving realistic movement to vehicles and machinery as well as natural elements such as rain, water, lightning, smoke, and shadow. After premiering at the Center Theatre in New York City on February 7, 1940, Pinocchio was released in theatres on February 23, 1940.

Although it received critical acclaim and became the first animated feature to win a competitive Academy Award — winning two for Best Music, Original Score and for Best Music, Original Song for "When You Wish Upon a Star" — it was initially a commercial failure, mainly due to World War II cutting off the European and Asian markets. It eventually made a profit after its 1945 rerelease, and is considered one of the greatest animated films ever made, with a 100% rating on the website Rotten Tomatoes. The film and characters are still prevalent in popular culture, featuring at various Disney parks and other forms of entertainment. In 1994, Pinocchio was added to the United States National Film Registry for being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."^[5]

In 2000, a live-action made-for-television film titled Geppetto, told from Geppetto's perspective, was released via ABC. A live-action remake of the same title directed by Robert Zemeckis was released in 2022 on Disney+.