Steven Spielberg to direct Roald Dahl's The Big Friendly Giant

Director Steven Spielberg has signed on to shoot a live-action version of Roald Dahl's classic children's book, The BFG (short for The Big Friendly Giant) according to The Hollywood Reporter. DreamWorks acquired rights to the book a few years back, but Spielberg is now "officially committing" himself to direct based on a script from Melissa Mathison, who wrote Spielberg's own E.T.

It's not the first time The BFG has been adapted for the screen. An animated British version was released in the late 1980s, though it was met with tepid reviews. (You can watch that whole film on YouTube and judge for yourself.)

Spielberg reportedly hopes to begin production next year, putting the movie on track to come out some time in 2016. Let's hope this one goes a little better than another recent Dahl story-turned-movie, Tim Burton's ill-fated Charlie and the Chocolate Factory reboot.

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