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Steven Spielberg: “The worse the world gets the more we have to believe in magic.” Photo: Richard Mowe

With themes that mirror E.T., which was made more than three decades ago, Steven Spielberg’s new adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Big Friendly Giant (or The Bfg) which also was written by the late Melissa Mathison, gave the director the chance to go back story-telling from the imagination rather than historically based subjects such Bridge Of Spies and Lincoln.

At the Cannes Film Festival for the world premiere tonight (14 May) Spielberg and some of his cast including Penelope Wilton (who plays the Queen), Rebecca Hall as her Pa, Mark Rylance (as the Bfg), newcomer Ruby Barnell as the child, and producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, earlier gathered for a close encounter with the media.

Ruby Barnhill: “It truly seems like a dream come true.” Photo: Richard Mowe...

Disney took a slightly different approach to its CinemaCon presentation earlier today. The studio decided it was best to screen the first 30 minutes of Pixar's Finding Dory before showing Captain America: Civil War in its entirety to those in attendance. Disney started its CinemaCon presentation with a sizzle reel, highlighting all the great movies both recently released and upcoming. The Jungle Book, which opens this weekend, featured prominently among a slate of largely family friendly titles from Disney's 5 major studios.

Dave Hollis took the stage to thank exhibitors and promised much from the upcoming slate. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, headlined by Felicity Jones, kicked things off with its teaser trailer. As Hollis claimed, this was the first time it was being shown on the 'big screen'. The Rogue One: A Star Wars Story trailer will be attached to Captain America: Civil War in theaters.

Hollis went onto mention...

It’s one of the most-anticipated kids’ films of the year, and “The Bfg” finally has a preview trailer for all to behold.

Directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Walt Disney Pictures, the forthcoming flick (short for The Big Friendly Giant) is adapted from the Roald Dahl classic and is slated to hit theaters on July 1st.

“The Bfg” stars Mark Rylance, Bill Hader, Jemaine Clement and Rebecca Hall. Per the synopsis, “A girl named Sophie encounters the Big Friendly Giant who, despite his intimidating appearance, turns out to be a kindhearted soul who is considered an outcast by the other giants because unlike his peers refuses to eat boys and girls.”...

The magical world of Roald Dahl's classic book The Bfg is further unlocked in the new trailer for the Steven Spielberg-directed film adaptation. The Disney film will hit theatres on July 1st.

The book and film tell the tale of an orphan named Sophie who is whisked off by the Bfg, voiced by Academy Award-winner Mark Rylance. The Big Friendly Giant and Sophie become friends, and he explains to her why he took her from the orphanage: "Because I hears your lonely heart." Trouble ensues as the treacherous...

The film-making powers of Steven Spielberg, Disney, and Roald Dahl combine to make an epic fantasy adventure.

Many of us grew up reading Roald Dahl's books. The Bfg was always a stand-out favourite, and the stunning new trailer for the film has us super excited.

The film tells the story of 10-year-old Sophie who mysteriously encounters The Big Friendly Giant (Mark Rylance), who brings her to the magical world of Giant Country. Sophie is scared at first, but discovers how gentle and good-natured The Bfg is in comparison to the other mean giants who live in this country. The two become good friends, but Sophie's presence in Giant Country causes a stir among the other inhabitants.

Check out the trailer for The Bfg below, and see the film when it hits theatres on July 22nd.

Newcomer Ruby Barnhill plays Sophie, an imaginative little girl who befriends Spielberg’s giant

Although the full programme details will not be revealed and confirmed in Paris until 14 April, already the rumour mill is in full production about the line-up for this year’s 69th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.

Woody Allen… back on the Croisette for Café Society Photo: Richard Mowe

The Stars and Stripes will be fluttering strongly over the Croisette with (suggest informed sources) an out-of competition premiere for Steven Spielberg’s new film The Bfg (the Big Friendly Giant), an adaptation of the work of Roald Dahl. The production marks the Bridge Of Spies director’s first collaboration with Disney and his first live action family adventure movie since 1991’s Hook. Spielberg was last in Cannes in 2008 for the fourth film in the Indiana Jones franchise, Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. The Big Friendly Giant...

If you're not familiar with Roald Dahl's tale The Bfg, then let us start with what "The Bfg" actually means: The Big Friendly Giant.  Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Dahl's timeless story -- and the director's first for Walt Disney -- follows the adventures of an orphan girl named Sophie who's whisked away to a land full of giants by the only friendly one among the bunch. Or, well, the only one who doesn't eat children, we should say.  Check out the first teaser trailer below, which sets up the film's fantastical premise.   The Bfg is due out on July 1, 2016, and marks a return to family-friendly movies for Spielberg (his last being 2011's The Adventures of Tintin). It's hard not to anticipate the...

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The first teaser trailer for The Bfg would make Harry Potter green with envy.

Steven Spielberg teases the witching hour in our first look at his take on Roald Dahl’s childhood classic, The Bfg – aka The Big Friendly Giant. The story seems like a natural fit for the man who directed what’s now considered one of the great family classics, E.T., in the same year Dahl’s book was published.

The Bfg tells the story of Sophie, a young orphan who encounters the friendly giant, himself an outcast among giants thanks to his refusal to eat little boys and girls. Together, the pair set out on an adventure to help capture the evil child-eating giants who have invaded the human world.

What can we expect from Spielberg’s vision of The Bfg? Lots of magic, twisted London streets, special effects, and a fantastic sense of adventure if this teaser is any indication.

Walt Disney and Roald Dahl in Hollywood in 1942.

Steven Spielberg has unveiled the first teaser for Disney’s The Bfg.

The talents of three of the world’s greatest storytellers – Roald Dahl, Walt Disney and Steven Spielberg – finally unite to bring Dahl’s beloved classic “The Bfg” to life.

Directed by Spielberg, Disney’s The Bfg tells the imaginative story of a young girl and the Giant who introduces her to the wonders and perils of Giant Country.

“I think it was kind of genius of Roald Dahl to be able to empower the children. It was very, very brave of him to introduce that combination of darkness and light which was so much Disney’s original signature in a lot of their earlier works like in ‘Dumbo,’ ‘Fantasia,’ ‘Snow White’ and ‘Cinderella,’ and being able to do scary, but also be redemptive at the same time and teach a lesson,...

If you're not familiar with Roald Dahl's tale The Bfg, then let us start with what "The Bfg" actually means: The Big Friendly Giant.  Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Dahl's timeless story -- and the director's first for Walt Disney -- follows the adventures of an orphan girl named Sophie who's whisked away to a land full of giants by the only friendly one among the bunch. Or, well, the only one who doesn't eat children, we should say. ...

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After directing Bridge of Spies starring Tom Hanks, director Steven Spielberg is moving very quickly to begin production on his next project, an adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic children's book The Bfg (which means The Big Friendly Giant). Shooting is beginning in Vancouver this month, and today Walt Disney Studios announced that it will co-produce and co-finance the film DreamWorks. In addition, "Flight of the Conchords" and What We Do in the Shadows star Jemaine Clement has been added to the cast of the family friendly adventure as another giant in the film, and he's joined by several other supporting stars. Disney also has added Michael David Adamthwaite, Daniel Bacon, Chris Gibbs, Adam Godley, Jonathan Holmes, Paul Moniz de Sa and Olafur Olaffson, all joining the film as giants, and they've confirmed Bill Hader, who was revealed to have joined the cast recently, and has been confirmed to be a giant as well.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }A:link { } Mid last year it was announced Steven Spielberg would direct an adaptation of Roald Dahl's children's classic The Bfg. With a still only a small cast thus far announced, the project has most definitely generated some fan interest with the latest addition of Saturday Night Live's Bill Hader. The announcement of Hader's joining the live-action project came earlier yesterday and it looks as though he will be filling some pretty big shoes, literally. As reported by Deadline, the SNL comedian is boarding the film in the role of one of the giants. Dahl's original children's book follows a little girl by the name of Sophie who lives at an orphanage run by Mrs. Clonkers. She befriends a kindhearted giant known as The Bfg or The Big Friendly Giant and the duo, along with the Queen of England, venture out to bring down the terrible,...

Colonia: The first official photo from the upcoming thriller Colonia shows Emma Watson getting man-handled by Mikael Nyqvist, portraying a cult leader in the true-life story. Watson and Daniel Brühl (Inglourious Basterds) play a couple who get entangled with Chile's military coup in 1973. The movie is heading for release in October 2015. [Collider]   The Bfg: Steven Spielberg is currently filming an untitled Cold War thriller starring Tom Hanks, and that's where he found the leading man for his next movie. Mark Rylance, who is costarring in the thriller, will star as the titular character in The Bfg, based on the children's adventure by Roald Dahl. The Bfg is an abbreviation for "The Big Friendly Giant"; it starts filming next spring and...

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Back in March, it was widely reported that 20th Century Fox was moving forward on a remake of the classic 1961 musical West Side Story, with Steven Spielberg interested in directing. It sounded like it might be the next project for the iconic filmmaker, but he instead decided on two other back-to-back projects that were gestating, an adaptation of Roald Dahl's children's novel The Bfg (The Big Friendly Giant), and the very different Untitled Cold War Thriller starring Tom Hanks and Amy Ryan. If you were disappointed by this news, don't worry, it sounds like Steven Spielberg may still direct West Side Story sometime in the near future.

Appearing along with Oprah Winfrey on Good Morning America to promote their joint production The Hundred-Foot Journey, in theaters this weekend, Steven Spielberg was asked if he was still considering his remake of Robert Wise's classic West Side Story. The director...

We’re closing in on two years from when the last Steven Spielberg-directed movie (the Oscar-winner Lincoln) hit theaters. Since then, the filmmaker has been linked to a couple projects (Robopocalypse, Gods and Kings) that have since either been put on the back burner or fallen into development hell. Recently, the word’s been that Spielberg will next direct a currently-untitled Cold War drama, followed by a live-action movie based on Roald Dahl’s The Bfg; today, we can confirm the news, as these films now have official release dates.

Spielberg’s E.T. screenwriter Melissa Mathison was hired a few years ago to adapt The Bfg – Dahl’s book about the young orphan Sophie, who befriends the whimsical, dream-delivering, Big Friendly Giant, Bfg for ...

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The post Spielberg’s Tom Hanks Cold War Drama...

When Steven Spielberg is attached to direct a movie, you know that it's something to look forward to. After all, with movies like Lincoln, Indiana Jones, and E.T. under his belt, it's obvious that he's made of some real raw talent.

Mr. Spielberg is no stranger to book adaptations, either (Jurassic Park anyone?) And it sounds like he found one of his next big projects in Roald Dahl's "Big Friendly Giant." This classic children's tale comes from the same author as "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

The Big Friendly Giant, or "Bfg," follows the story of Sophie, a young girl who befriends a kind giant. She quickly finds out that a gang of evil giants, however, are planning to descend upon her land. So it's up to Sophie and her friend to protect England from the evil giants.

Fans of the book may have to wait just a smidge...

While it looked like Steven Spielberg was gearing up to direct Tom Hanks in an Untitled Cold War Thriller based on the true story of American attorney James Donovan, who was recruited by the CIA to negotiate the release of pilot Gary Powers after his U-2 spy plane was shot down over Russia in 1960, it seems he's actually decided on a totally different kind of project first. He will instead jump into the director's seat for the fantasy adventure The Bfg (The Big Friendly Giant). The original novel was penned by acclaimed children's writer Roald Dahl. Melissa Mathison will adapt the screenplay. This will be the first time the screenwriter has worked with Steven Spielberg since E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in 1982. She also contributed to his segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie in 1983 going under the alias Josh Rogen.

Here is the official word from the Roald Dahl estate.

Roald Dahl...