James and the Giant Peach (film)
James and the Giant Peach | |
---|---|
Directed by | Henry Selick |
Screenplay by | Karey Kirkpatrick Jonathan Roberts Steve Bloom |
Based on | James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl |
Produced by | Denise Di Novi Tim Burton |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Pete Kozachik Guild Film Distribution[1] (United Kingdom) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 79 minutes |
Countries | United Kingdom United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $38 million |
Box office | $37.7 million[2] |
James and the Giant Peach is a 1996
Released on April 12, 1996 in the United States, the film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its story and visual aspects.[4] However, the film was a box-office failure, grossing $300K less than its budget.
Plot
In the summer of 1948, English boy James Henry Trotter is a young orphan living with his sadistic and domineering aunts Spiker and Sponge after his parents were eaten by a flying rhinoceros on his birthday. One day, after rescuing a spider from his hysterical aunts, James obtains magic "crocodile tongues" from a mysterious old man, which have the power to grow anything they come into contact with to colossal size. James, running home, trips and spills the bag onto the ground; the neon, wormlike “tongues” leap away and into the ground underneath an old peach tree, thus growing a massive fruit that Spiker and Sponge exploit as a tourist attraction. At night, James eats through the peach to find a pit with several human-sized anthropomorphic invertebrates: Mr. Grasshopper, Mr. Centipede, Ms. Spider (the spider he saved prior), Mr. Earthworm, Mrs. Ladybug, and Mrs. Glowworm. As they hear Spiker and Sponge searching for James, Centipede cuts the stem connecting the peach to the tree and the peach rolls away to the Atlantic Ocean.
The invertebrates fly the peach to New York City with a flock of
James introduces his friends to the crowd of onlookers, and allows the children to eat the peach. The peach pit is made into a cottage in Central Park, where James lives happily with the bugs, who form his new family and also find success and fame in the city; Mr. Centipede runs for New York mayor and is now James’ father, Miss Spider opens a club and is his mother, Mr. Earthworm becomes a mascot for a skin-care company (and either James' uncle or cousin), Mrs. Ladybug becomes an
A post-credits scene shows a kid playing an arcade game called Spike the Aunts, which involves the rhinoceros hitting the aunts in the rear.
Cast
- Paul Terry as James Henry Trotter
- Miriam Margolyes as Aunt Sponge
- Joanna Lumley as Aunt Spiker
- Pete Postlethwaite as Narrator/the Magic Man
- Steven Culp as James' Father
- Susan Turner-Cray as James' Mother
- Mike Starr as Beat Cop
Voices
- Simon Callow as Mr. Grasshopper
- Richard Dreyfuss as Mr. Centipede
- Jeff Bennett as Mr. Centipede (singing voice)
- Jane Leeves as Mrs. Ladybug
- Susan Sarandon as Miss Spider
- David Thewlis as Mr. Earthworm
- Miriam Margolyes as Mrs. Glowworm
Production
At Walt Disney Animation Studios in the early 1980s, Joe Ranft tried to convince the staff to produce a film based on Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach (1961), a book that enamored him with its "liberating" material ever since he first read it in third grade.[5] However, Disney refused for reasons of a potentially expensive and difficult animation process and the source material's weird subject matter.[5] Among the animators exposed to the book by Ranft was Henry Selick; while he enjoyed the book and thought about adapting it to screen for several years, he understood the obstacles doing so, such as the source material's dreamy nature, episodic structure, and the reputation of other Dahl books being so agitational some parts of the world banned them.[5]
Felicity Dahl, Roald's widow and executor of his estate, began offering film rights to the book in the summer in 1992; among those interested included Steven Spielberg and Danny DeVito.[6][7]
Walt Disney Pictures acquired the film rights to the book from the Dahl estate in 1992.[8] Brian Rosen was hired as producer by Disney for his experience in animated projects like FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992) and live-action films such as Mushrooms (1995).[9]
To write four songs for the movie, Selick approached Elvis Costello, who showed an interest in doing the film. Unfortunately, Disney's music division showed no interest in Costello. “Their alarms just went off, and they said, ‘No, that’s too weird,’” said Selick. Disney suggested Randy Newman as an alternative. “I didn’t want to use Randy,” said Selick, “only because John Lasseter was already using him for Toy Story.” Andy Partridge, the main songwriter from the rock group XTC, originally wrote four songs for the film, "All I Dream Of Is A Friend," "Don't Let Us Bug Ya," "Stinking Rich Song" and "Everything Will Be All Right", “one of which was very beautiful,” said Selick, but was replaced by Randy Newman due to creative differences between Selick and Disney regarding the choice of soundtrack composer and the fact that Disney wanted to own the copyright to the songs for perpetuity.[12][13]
Before the start of production, Disney and Selick debated on whether the film should be live-action or stop-motion-animated, the company skeptical of the stop-motion solution.
Filming began on November 15, 1994, with the live-action scenes wrapping on December 27 of that year, and the stop-motion scenes continuing until January 19, 1996.[15]
Songs
All tracks are written by Randy Newman
No. | Title | Performer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "My Name Is James" | Paul Terry | |
2. | "That's the Life" | Jeff Bennett, Susan Sarandon, Jane Leeves, Miriam Margolyes, Simon Callow & David Thewlis (Paul Terry; reprise) | |
3. | "Eating the Peach" | Jeff Bennett, Susan Sarandon, Jane Leeves, Miriam Margolyes, Simon Callow, David Thewlis & Paul Terry | |
4. | "Family" | Jeff Bennett, Susan Sarandon, Jane Leeves, Miriam Margolyes, Simon Callow, David Thewlis & Paul Terry | |
5. | "Good News" | Randy Newman |
Release
The film was theatrically released on April 12, 1996.
Disney released the film worldwide except for a few countries in Europe including the United Kingdom, where
Box office
The film opened at the number 2 spot at the box office, missing out on the top spot to
Home media
The film was released on VHS on October 15, 1996. A digitally restored Blu-ray/DVD combo pack was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on August 3, 2010, in the United States.[23]
Reception
The film received positive reviews during its initial release.
Though Roald Dahl refused numerous offers to have a
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a positive review, praising the animated part, but calling the live-action segments "crude."[27] Writing in The New York Times, Janet Maslin called the film "a technological marvel, arch and innovative with a daringly offbeat visual conception" and "a strenuously artful film with a macabre edge."[28]
Awards and nominations
The film was nominated for an
Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1996 | Annie Awards | Best Animated Feature | Nominated | |
Best Individual Achievement: Directing | Henry Selick | Nominated | ||
Best Individual Achievement: Music | Randy Newman | Nominated | ||
Best Individual Achievement: Producing | Tim Burton Denise Di Novi |
Nominated | ||
Best Individual Achievement: Storyboarding | Joe Ranft | Nominated | ||
Best Individual Achievement: Voice Acting | Richard Dreyfuss | Nominated | ||
Best Individual Achievement: Writing | Karey Kirkpatrick Jonathan Roberts Steve Bloom |
Nominated | ||
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Animated Film | Won | ||
1997 | Academy Awards | Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score | Randy Newman | Nominated |
Annecy International Animated Film Festival |
Best Animated Feature Film | Henry Selick | Won [29] | |
Chicago Film Critics Association | Best Original Score | Randy Newman | Nominated | |
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association | Best Animated Film | Won | ||
Satellite Awards | Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media | Tim Burton Denise Di Novi |
Nominated | |
Saturn Awards | Best Fantasy Film | Nominated | ||
Young Artist Awards |
Best Family Feature – Animation or Special Effects | Won | ||
Best Performance in a Voiceover – Young Artist | Paul Terry | Nominated |
Potential remake
In August 2016, Sam Mendes was revealed to be in negotiations with Disney to direct another live action adaptation of the novel,[30] with Nick Hornby in talks for the script.[31] In May 2017, however, Mendes was no longer attached to the project due to his entering talks with Disney about directing a live-action film adaptation of Pinocchio, which he would also drop out on with Robert Zemeckis taking his place.[32]
References
Citations
- ^ "James And The Giant Peach". BBFC. 1996-04-15. Archived from the original on 2022-02-11. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
- ^ a b "Top 100 worldwide b.o. champs". Variety. January 20, 1997. p. 14.
- ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
- ^ a b "James and the Giant Peach". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
- ^ a b c French 1996b, p. 25.
- ^ Thompson, Anne (April 26, 1996). "Behind the scenes of 'James and the Giant Peach'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
- ^ French 1996b, p. 27.
- ^ Setoodah, Ramin (July 29, 2016). "From 'The BFG' to 'Matilda': How 5 Roald Dahl Books Landed on the Big Screen". Variety. Archived from the original on July 3, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
- ^ a b c d French 1996a, p. 7.
- ^ ISBN 0-8050-7198-9.
- ^ French 1996a, p. 61.
- ^ XTC (2019-04-22). "WIKI COR-Re JAMES +GIANT PEACH. "... but was replaced by Randy Newman when he could not get Disney to offer him "an acceptable deal". More than Disney wanted Newman, filmmaker Sellick wanted me. I feel Disney made things difficult for me so that they would get their choice". @xtcfans. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
- ^ "Cinefantastique Magazine". Archive. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
- ^ a b Evans, Noah Wolfgram. "Layers: A Look at Henry Selick". Archived from the original on January 29, 2009. Retrieved December 12, 2008.
- ^ "James and the Giant Peach (1996)". IMDbPro. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
- ^ "Weekend Box Office : 'Primal Fear' Keeps Grip on Top Spot". Los Angeles Times. 16 April 1996. Archived from the original on 2023-05-06. Retrieved 2023-05-06.
- ^ "Primal Fear". Archived from the original on 2018-02-03. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
- ^ "James and the Giant Peach". Archived from the original on 2020-12-20. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
- ^ "James and the Giant Peach". Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
- ^ "James and the Giant Peach". Archived from the original on 2022-11-07. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
- ^ "James and the Giant Peach (1996) – Financial Information". Archived from the original on 2018-03-03. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
- ^ "James and the Giant Peach". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
- ^ Foster, Dave (May 19, 2010). "James and the Giant Peach (US BD) in August". The Digital Fix. Archived from the original on May 20, 2010. Retrieved June 27, 2010.
- ^ Roberts, Chloe; Darren Horne. "Roald Dahl: From Page to Screen". close-upfilm.com. Archived from the original on February 4, 2009. Retrieved December 9, 2008.
- ^ "James and the Giant Peach Reviews". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Archived from the original on October 23, 2022. Retrieved October 22, 2022.
- ^ "Home". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on 2018-01-02. Retrieved 2022-10-23.
- ^ Gleiberman, Owen (April 19, 1996). "James and the Giant Peach (1996) review". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 23, 2009. Retrieved December 12, 2008.
- ^ Maslin review
- ^ "Annecy". Archived from the original on 2019-01-26. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
- ^ "Sam Mendes in Talks to Direct Disney's Live-Action 'James and the Giant Peach'". Variety. 25 August 2016. Archived from the original on 30 August 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
- ^ "Sam Mendes, Nick Hornby in talks for live-action 'James and the Giant Peach'". Entertainment Weekly.
- ^ "Sam Mendes in Early Talks to Direct 'Pinocchio' Live-Action Movie". Variety. 22 May 2017. Archived from the original on 23 May 2017. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
Mendes will no longer direct the "James and the Giant Peach" remake for Disney, which he was attached to less than a year ago.
Bibliography
- French, Lawrence (April 1996). "James and the Giant Peach". Cinefantastique. pp. 7, 61. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
- French, Lawrence (May 1996). "James and the Giant Peach". Cinefantastique. pp. 24–43. Retrieved May 29, 2021.