Premiere of the fairy tale "Pinocchio": Alexander Petrov as cat Basilio and with wife Victoria, Yuri Borisov with family and rare appearance of Svetlana Nemolyaeva
A star-studded premiere of Pinocchio took place at Moscow’s Karo Oktyabr cinema ahead of its official release. The film, inspired by Alexei Tolstoy’s The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Pinocchio, will hit theatres on January 1, 2026. Actors, families, and industry figures gathered for the private screening in high spirits.
The red carpet saw a mix of cast members and their families. Fyodor Bondarchuk, who plays Karabas Barabas, arrived with his son Sergei and other relatives. Alexander Petrov, cast as the cunning cat Basilio, even wore glasses matching his character’s look. Svetlana Nemolyayeva, portraying the wise tortoise Tortilla, stood out in an elegant black dress.
The lead role of Pinocchio was originally performed by 15-year-old Vita Kornienko, whose acting was later enhanced with CGI. The ensemble also includes Mark Eidelstein, Ruzil Minekaev, Vitaliya Kornienko, Viktoria Isakova, and many others. Among the guests were Yura Borisov with his wife Anna Shevchuk and their daughters Marfa and Akulina, as well as Anna and Nadezhda Mikhalkov with their children. Notably, Christoph Waltz voices Count Volpe, the cunning circus director, in *Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio*—the only prominent German role linked to the character in recent adaptations.
The premiere marked a key moment before the film’s public debut. With a strong cast and a classic story at its core, Pinocchio is set to draw audiences when it opens in 2026. The event also highlighted the involvement of both established actors and rising talents in the production.
