Walt Disney Studios and DreamWorks have announced the release dates of Steven Spielberg’s next two projects. Spielberg will first get behind the camera to direct a Cold War spy thriller before turning his attention to The BFG based on the Roald Dahl book.
The studios have set an October 16, 2015 release date for the Cold War film and a July 1, 2016 release date for The BFG.
Spielberg’s untitled Cold War film will reunite the director with his frequent collaborator Tom Hanks. Spielberg directed Hanks in The Terminal, Catch Me If You Can, and Saving Private Ryan, and the award-winning pair have also worked together as executive producers on projects including Band of Brothers.
In Spielberg’s upcoming film based on a true story, Hanks will play James Donovan, an attorney sent by the CIA on a near-impossible mission to obtain the release of an American U-2 pilot. Matt Charman came up with the original story and the Coen Brothers have drafted the most recent version of the script.
Melissa Mathison (ET) adapted Dahl’s The BFG for the screen. Frank Marshall will produce the film and Michael Siegel and John Madden will executive produce. The book was published in 1982 and was made into an animated TV movie back in 1989. The plot involves “a lovable, dream-hunting giant and Sophie, the little girl who first spots him through the window of the orphanage where she lives.”
“The BFG has enchanted families and their children for more than three decades. We are honored that the Roald Dahl estate has entrusted us with this classic story,” said Spielberg back when the deal was first announced in April 2014.
“We are delighted that Steven Spielberg will bring his inventive genius to directing the story of The BFG and that Roald Dahl’s beloved story and characters will be brought to the screen in 2016 – a year when we will be celebrating 100 years since Roald Dahl’s birth!,” stated the Roald Dahl Literary Estate in the official press release.
-By Rebecca Murray
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