DreamWorks Studios has tapped Striker Entertainment to serve as the licensing agent for the upcoming Steven Spielberg live-action version of Roald Dahl‘s popular children’s novel The BFG, it was announced Wednesday.
Striker will handle North American licensing and worldwide deals for toys, video games and other categories. eOne is the licensing agent for the U.K. and the European Union.
“The BFG marks DreamWorks‘ fifth collaboration with Striker Entertainment,” said Jeff Small, DreamWorks‘ president and COO. “Russell Binder and Marc Mostman have been outstanding partners to us over the years, and we look forward to working with them and their team on this exciting project.”
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Striker, based in L.A., has handled licensing for The Walking Dead, The Hunger Games, Orange Is the New Black, Candy Crush and other movie and TV properties.
The BFG was first published in 1982. Dahl, who died in 1990, said it was the favorite of his stories. It has been published in 38 languages. Other Dahl books that have been made into movies include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Fantastic Mr. Fox.
The BFG stands for Big Friendly Giant. The children’s book is about a little girl who becomes an international hero when she causes the man eating giants to be captured.
The BFG was previously made into an animated movie in 1989 and also has been adapted for live theater.
Spielberg is expected to start production on The BFG this year and it is due in theaters July 1, 2016. Disney is distributing domestically and in some international markets. Mister Smith Entertainment is doing the distribution in much of the rest of the world, except India, where Reliance (which is an investor in DreamWorks) will handle the movie.
The movie reteams Spielberg with screenwriter Melissa Mathison, who wrote the script for his megahit E.T. Spielberg, Frank Marshall and Sam Mercer will produce, and Kathleen Kennedy (who brought the property to the studio), John Madden and Michael Siegel will be executive producers. Kristie Macosko Krieger and Adam Somner are co-producers.
