A darker version of the Pinocchio tale is coming to the big screen, courtesy of “Hellboy” and “Pan’s Labyrinth” director Guillermo del Toro.

According to Variety, the Mexican director is developing a stop-motion animated feature of the fairy tale alongside Jim Henson Co. of “Sesame Street” and “The Muppet Show” fame.

Del Toro will serve as executive producer and is working on the screenplay with Gris Grimley, who will co-direct with Adam Parrish King.

Grimley previously illustrated a 2002 version of “Pinocchio.”

The puppet with the ever-growing nose debuted in the 19th-century book “The Adventures of Pinocchio” by Carlo Collodi and was first turned into a feature film by Walt Disney in 1940.

Del Toro will have to juggle this latest movie with half a dozen other projects. He is currently co-writing the two “Hobbit” movies and also signed a four-year deal with Universal Studios in September, which will include remakes of “Frankenstein” and “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

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Guillermo Del Toro may have won a ticket to Middle Earth.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the filmmaker is in talks to take the reigns from Peter Jackson and direct “The Hobbit.” The J.R.R. Tolkien novel will reportedly be split into two films, with Jackson producing.

Del Toro has already built a strong following in the science fiction and fantasy crowd, with the Oscar-nominated “Pan’s Labyrinth” and cult hit “Hellboy.”

Jackson, who co-wrote and directed the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, is already committed to several other projects, so he will not be able to write the “Hobbit” script. The process of picking a writer will be fast-tracked once the Writer’s Guild of America strike has been resolved.

In the meantime, Del Toro already has a full plate with 12 projects in various stages of development.

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