Robert Downey Jr has been developing a Pinocchio live-action movie at Warner Bros for some time already - and it now looks like Ron Howard will be taking charge.
A series of writers and directors have been attached, with Paul Thomas Anderson the most recent to sign on. However, he departed the project in November, leaving an empty seat that the Apollo 13 filmmaker is set to fill.
There has been little in the way of confirmation about the project, but we do know that it will focus more on the Geppetto angle of Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio story, and look at what happens to him when he tries to find his missing puppet-son.
That would be Downey Jr's role, in a Maleficent-style refocusing of the story on a grown-up character (although cobbler Geppetto is considerably less menacing, and has less impressive head-gear).
Previous screenwriters on the project have included Jane Goldman, Michael Mitnick and Bryan Fuller.
Howard is now expected to bring in a writer of his own for one more draft, but the film should actually get under way in the not-too-distant future.
Howard's last movie was, of course, December's In the Heart of the Sea, which means he has experience with whales that could come in very useful for Pinocchio...
