There’s a surprisingly big amount of Jim Henson Co. news today. Let’s dive into the two pieces of news:

1) Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) will create a stop-motion animated version of the classic tale, “Pinocchio”, according to ScreenCrave.  This version is set to be much darker with a more devilish, mischievous Pinocchio, saying in an interview, “What we’re trying to do is present a Pinocchio that is more faithful to the take that [Carlo] Collodi [the author of “Pinocchio”] wrote. That is more surreal and slightly darker than what we’ve seen before.” Work on this film fell by the wayside during the time when del Toro was attached to “The Hobbit”. Del Toro will work with the Jim Henson Co. to create the film.

2) According to CinemaBlend, “The Muppets” will not only satisfy Muppets fans, but will also satiate “Toy Story” fans as well. There will be a “Toy Story” short to run before the film begins. It’s already been released that another “Toy Story” short featuring Ken and Barbie called “Hawaiian Stay-Cation” will play before “Cars 2”.

“The Muppets” is written by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller and stars Segel as well as everyone’s favorite group of Muppets. Other stars include Zach Galifianakis, Amy Adams, Katy Perry, Ed Helms, Rashida Jones, Ricky Gervais, Jack Black and a ton more stars. The film will be released November 23, 2011.