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Dumbo](http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=41492) **isn’t the only loveable, giant-lugged game in Hollywood this week. Also once-animated and also now en route to a live-action redo is Steven Spielberg’s The BFG - or Big Friendly Giant for the acronym-averse – which now has an official release date. It makes its worldwide bow in the UK and July 22, 2016 is the date to circle in your long-range diary, putting it up against Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur.
Spielberg’s take on Roald Dahl’s beloved belobed one has been penned by E.T. screenwriter Melissa Mathison. It’s had a lengthy and often briar-strewn path to the screen, passing through the hands of directors such as John Madden and Chris Columbus, before Spielberg took up the gauntlet for DreamWorks.
“It is fitting that the UK is the first international country to announce the date of The BFG”, Spielberg says, “a story that sprang from the imagination of this proud son from Wales. We at DreamWorks Studios hope our film will add to Roald Dahl’s prolific legacy of entertainment.”
For more on that Roald Dahl big-screen legacy history, head to this potted history of Dahl adaptations. If you’re not familiar with the story, **The BFG **tells of the world’s only friendly giant and his friendship with young girl called Sophie. He makes it his mission to collect good dreams and gift them to children while destroying nightmares and keeping his nasty fellow gigantic brethren from eating “human beans”.
Spielberg is also producing **The BFG **with old **Raiders **and **Empire Of The Sun **cohort Frank Marshall, with Kathleen Kennedy, John Madden and Michael Siegel also on board as executive producers. Some pedigree there.