The BFG (2016 film)

Producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy began development on a live-action adaptation of The BFG in 1991, and set the project up at Paramount Pictures.[21] Husband and wife screenwriters Robin Swicord and Nicholas Kazan wrote a screenplay adaptation in 1998, with Robin Williams in negotiations for the title role.[22][23][24] Williams attended a read-through, which according to Michael Siegel was "surprisingly disappointing".[25] Williams' trademark improvisational style clashed with the BFG's unique language.[25] Siegel elaborates, "He was sort of improvising on the jumbled language. And it was clunky. It was strangely not working. It was harder than it looks even for Robin. It didn't quite deliver."[25] By 2001, the script had been rewritten by Gwyn Lurie, and was greeted with positive feedback from the Dahl estate.[26] Terry Jones and Ed Solomon also attempted screenplay drafts.[25] While the screenplay lingered in development hell, Paramount subsequently lost the film rights and they reverted to the Dahl estate.[25]

In September 2011, DreamWorks acquired the film rights to the book; Kennedy and Marshall were announced to produce, with screenwriter Melissa Mathison adapting the story.[27] Initially, John Madden was hired to direct; however, in April 2014, Steven Spielberg was announced as the director, with Madden now listed as executive producer with producer Michael Siegel.[28] Kennedy had initially thought of Spielberg as director, but hesitated asking him until a more concrete screenplay was presentable.[29] Spielberg stated, "The BFG has enchanted families and their children for more than three decades. We are honoured that the Roald Dahl estate has entrusted us with this classic story."[30] Walden Media agreed to co-produce and co-finance the film with DreamWorks and Amblin in March 2015.[3] A month later, Walt Disney Studios—which was under prior agreement to distribute the film through its Touchstone Pictures banner—also joined the production as a co-producer and co-financier, and shifted the film from a Touchstone release to a Walt Disney Pictures production instead.[31] Consequently, The BFG is the first Disney-branded film directed by Spielberg, though he has previously produced several films for the studio.[2][32] Similarly, as a result of Amblin Partners' restructuring, DreamWorks did not receive a marquee credit—placement of the studio's production logo on marketing materials and opening titles—and instead, DreamWorks' marquee credit shifted to Amblin Entertainment.[33][34] The film is the second adaptation of the novel following the 1989 direct-to-television animated film. It is also Disney's first feature-length adaptation of a Roald Dahl work since 1996's James and the Giant Peach.

Mark Rylance was cast in the film's title role in October 2014.[16] Spielberg had approached Rylance with the role during the filming of Bridge of Spies.[35][36] Spielberg was quoted as saying that "Mark Rylance is a transformational actor. I am excited and thrilled that Mark will be making this journey with us to Giant Country. Everything about his career so far is about making the courageous choice and I'm honoured he has chosen The BFG as his next big screen performance."[37][38] Rylance performed the character through motion capture, a process which he referred to as "liberating".[39] In mid-November 2014, it was revealed that a ten-year-old student of Lower Peover School, Ruby Barnhill, had auditioned for the film. She had to learn six pages of dialogue in preparation for a possible role as the orphan Sophie.[40] After a lengthy search, on December 16, Barnhill was cast in the role, about which she said, "I feel incredibly lucky and I'm so happy." Spielberg stated that they "have discovered a wonderful Sophie in Ruby Barnhill."[17] Bill Hader was set to star in the film in an unspecified role on March 27, 2015.[20] On April 13, 2015, the rest of the cast was announced, which included Penelope Wilton, Rebecca Hall, Jemaine Clement, Michael David Adamthwaite, Daniel Bacon, Chris Gibbs, Adam Godley, Jonathan Holmes, Paul Moniz de Sa, and Ólafur Ólafsson.[18]

Principal photography on the film began on March 23, 2015, in Vancouver[18][41] and concluded on June 12, 2015.[42] Weta Digital worked on the film's visual effects.[43] It is Mathison's final film following her death on November 4, 2015.

All music is composed by John Williams.

The BFG grossed $55.5 million in North America and $139.7 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $195.2 million, against a production budget of $140 million.[8]

In the United States and Canada, The BFG opened alongside The Legend of Tarzan and The Purge: Election Year at 3,357 theaters, and was projected to gross $22–32 million in its opening weekend.[58][59] The film was notably vying for drawing family audiences with the studio's own Finding Dory.[7] It made $775,000 from its Thursday previews; however, the low figure was not surprising, given how family films tend to attract fewer audiences during late-night showings.[60][61][62] This was followed by a $7 million opening day (including previews) and a disappointing $18.6 million opening weekend, which Deadline Hollywood called "an awful start for this film which is estimated to cost $140 million".[63][64] Forbes noted that Steven Spielberg's films tend to have long runs, irrespective of their opening numbers. However, it also pointed out that the July 4th weekend proves to be a non-leggy release schedule and most films released during this time end up making only twice their holiday total over the course of their domestic theatrical run.[65] The New York Times called the opening figures "a colossal misfire".[66]

Due to the film's poor performance in North America, the film was considered a box office disappointment.[12][13][14][15] As a result of its low opening numbers in North America, the film needed greater financial success in its international markets, as pointed out by David Hollis, Disney's distribution chief, saying, "we're going to be reliant in a lot of ways on international [audiences]".[66] Internationally—during its opening weekend—where the 4th of July weekend is not a holiday, the film opened to $3.9 million in its opening weekend from two markets, Australia and Russia.[67] In Australia, it opened to $2 million placing third while in Russia it debuted second with $1.9 million, which tops the entire runs of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and War Horse. In the United Kingdom, where the book is more well known, it opened to $6.9 million.[68]

In China, the release was handled by Huaxia Film Distribution. While it benefitted from a robust marketing effort including Spielberg's presence in the country itself, it suffered from a three month long delay after its North American release. It had an estimated $13.8 million opening, debuting at second place behind Operation Mekong.[69][70] Many Chinese online reviews criticized Spielberg for making the film "too juvenile" for adults.[71]

The BFG is one of the lowest-grossing films of Spielberg's career, specifically in North America and, when accounting for inflation, one of the year's biggest flops, but The Hollywood Reporter noted that Disney would be able to withstand the losses due to the success of Captain America: Civil War and Finding Dory.[72] The site also highlighted that the financial losses for Disney could be $90–100 million based on theatrical returns alone.[73]

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 74% based on 297 reviews and an average rating of 6.75/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The BFG minimizes the darker elements of Roald Dahl's classic in favor of a resolutely good-natured, visually stunning, and largely successful family-friendly adventure."[74] On another aggregator, Metacritic, the film has a score of 66 out of 100 based on 47 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[75] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[76]

Justin Chang of Los Angeles Times called Rylance's performance a "brilliant amalgam of performance-capture technology and peerless screen presence."[77] Scott Mendelson of Forbes described the film as "a charming, intelligent, and witty little adventure movie with strong special effects work in the service of a most unassuming story."[78] Mendelson also commended the film's smaller scope in story, as well as Rylance and Barnhill's interaction.[78] Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph called the film "a significant technical accomplishment", adding that "the infinitesimally detailed motion-capture technology alone, which stretches Rylance’s human performance to gargantuan proportions, is river-straddling bounds beyond anything that’s come before it."[79] Critic Matt Zoller Seitz highly appreciated Spielberg's direction of the film, giving the film three and a half out of four stars. Seitz remarks, "I can imagine some adults finding the movie dull; 'Nothing happens', they'll say. 'And it's too nice.' But I can imagine other adults loving the film for helping them remember what it's like to be young enough to hide from a movie monster because he's big and weird-looking and then laugh because he's kind of silly..."[80]

Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter compared the film objectively to Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, as a "conspicuously less captivating, magical and transporting experience than its classic forebear."[81] Peter Debruge of Variety, however, compared the film favorably to E.T., writing, "this splendid Steven Spielberg-directed adaptation makes it possible for audiences of all ages to wrap their heads around one of the unlikeliest friendships in cinema history, resulting in the sort of instant family classic “human beans” once relied upon Disney to deliver."[82] A. O. Scott of The New York Times praised the film's digital effects and visual style as "exquisite", though he felt that the film lacked the excitement found in Spielberg's previous fantasy films.[83]

Richard Brody of The New Yorker stating that it "plays like a forced march of fun, a mandatory strain of magic and a prescribed dose of poetry, like a movie ready-made for screening in classrooms when a teacher is absent." Brody, however, observes that "Spielberg is the BFG who's menaced by bigger and more monstrous giants who aren't interested in edifying their audiences but merely in consuming them—consuming the consumer, so to speak."[84] Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times called the film "technically impressive but listless and tedious... painfully cutesy, silly and gross rather than whimsical and funny." He thought that the film moved far too slowly and was missing a "sense of wonder and adventure", saying that he'd "rather see every one of Spielberg's previous films before having to sit through "The BFG" again".[85] Cole Smithey described the film as a "drab affair". Giving The BFG one star out of five, he criticized its "creepy style of animation [and] dragging tempo".[86]