Every now and then, Hollywood sees it fit to give movie fans films that are a virtual carbon copy of each other. In 1998 audiences were treated to a pair of disaster flicks in Armageddon and Deep Impact. In 2013, it was White House Down and Olympus Has Fallen. And this year, fans will get to see the beloved fairy tale, Pinocchio come to life at both Disney+ and Netflix.

Both projects are undoubtedly ambitious with award-winning directors helming each tale. However unlike Armageddon and Deep Impact (which is about a planet destroying asteroid hitting earth) and White House Down and Olympus Has Fallen (stories of hostile takeovers of the White House), these two Pinocchio tales from Disney+ and Netflix are vastly different.

Disney Flavour

Disney+ is giving fans a live-action treatment of the fairy-tale with Academy Award winner Robert Zemeckis directing. The film is typical Disney with a talented ensemble cast the likes of Tom Hanks, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Cynthia Erivo, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Keegan-Michael Key, Lorraine Bracco and Luke Evans.

Scheduled to hit the streamer in September, this live-action take retells the beloved tale of a wooden puppet who embarks on a thrilling adventure to become a real boy. Tom Hanks stars as Geppetto, the woodcarver who builds and treats Pinocchio (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) as if he were his own son.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Jiminy Cricket, who serves as Pinocchio’s guide as well as his “conscience”; Academy Award nominee Cynthia Erivo is the Blue Fairy; Keegan-Michael Key is “Honest” John; Academy Award nominee Lorraine Bracco is Sofia the Seagull, a new character, and Luke Evans is The Coachman.

Stop-Motion Fantasy

In the case of Netflix, the world’s biggest streamer has tapped Academy Award-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro to reinvent Carlo Collodi’s classic tale. Netflix’s take though is rooted in stop-motion, but with an equally impressive cast. Lending their voices to the characters are Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Finn Wolfhard, Christoph Waltz and Cate Blanchett.

This whimsical, stop-motion musical directed by del Toro and Mark Gustafson tells the story of the wooden marionette who is magically brought to life in order to mend the heart of a grieving woodcarver named Geppetto. The story will follow the mischievous and disobedient adventures of Pinocchio in his pursuit of a place in the world.

With two Pinocchio movies hitting both Disney+ and Netflix there will undoubtedly be comparisons. In fact, they will both draw comparisons to the two Jungle Book films produced by Disney and Netflix some years back. Nevertheless, regardless of which Pinocchio take will resonate better with audiences, fans ultimately stand to benefit. After all, two Pinocchios are always better than one.

(Images: Disney+ and Netflix)