The BFG (2016 film)

The BFG (titled onscreen as Roald Dahl's The BFG "Big Friendly Giant") is a 2016 fantasy adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison, and based on the 1982 novel. The film stars Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill, Penelope Wilton, Jemaine Clement, Rebecca Hall, Rafe Spall, and Bill Hader. In the film, a ten-year-old orphaned girl named Sophie befriends a benevolent giant and helps him to deal with some man-eating giants.

Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall began development on a live-action adaptation of The BFG in the 1990s, and various screenwriters were hired to work on the screenplay in the subsequent years. DreamWorks acquired the screen rights to Dahl's book in September 2011, and Spielberg was announced as director in April 2014. Principal photography commenced in March 2015.

The BFG premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, 2016, and debuted in North America at the El Capitan Theatre on June 21, 2016. The film was released in the United States on July 1, 2016, the same year of Dahl's centennial. It received generally positive reviews from critics, and was a box office disappointment, grossing $195 million against its $140 million budget. It was the last film penned by Mathison before her death in 2015, and was dedicated to her.