Steven Spielberg’s upcoming cold war thriller and The BFG have release dates

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Steven Spielberg has always circled a multitude of projects before settling down on one. The man is pretty speedy when it comes to actually making them (filming on WAR OF THE WORLDS started a mere seven months before its release date), so it’s really just a matter of what Spielberg is feeling passionate about. Two films that were on the director’s agenda have now been given a release date.

First of those projects gaining traction is the untitled cold war thriller penned by the Coen brothers. In it, Tom Hanks would play James Donovan, a prominent American attorney enlisted by the CIA during the Cold War to slip behind the iron curtain to negotiate the release of a pilot captured when his U-2 spy plane was shot down over Russia. The release date for this film has been set to October 16, 2015. For those keeping track, that’s also the same release date as Guillermo del Toro’s CRIMSON PEAK.

Next up on Spielberg’s plate is an adaptation of the Roald Dahl novel, THE BFG. THE BFG was initially set to be directed by John Madden (THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE), until he decided to drop out to direct THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL 2 . . . because if there was a sequel fans were clamoring for, it’s that. THE BFG will tell the story of a young girl who teams up with a benevolent giant so that they may save the whole of England from being eaten by his giant brethren. Couldn’t be worse than JACK THE GIANT SLAYER, right? THE BFG will be released on July 1, 2016.