At Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim this week, a new film version of Jack and the Beanstalk was announced. The animated film, Gigantic, will feature songs by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, the Oscar-winning songwriting team from Frozen.
Director Nathan Greno (Tangled) said, “You have to look at the original story, the iconic imagery, and then you have to mix in some twists and turns. When John Lasseter asked us where are we going to set this film, we started looking around the world at different areas and countries, and we landed on Spain.”
Greno said they chose Spain because of its age of discovery that took place in the 15th century. “This age of exploration was where people were going off finding new lands. That’s what happens when Jack goes up the beanstalk and finds this whole new world.”
Unlike the traditional stories of Jack climbing the beanstalk and discovering a giant, in Gigantic he will find a whole new world. He meets an 11-year-old 60-foot-tall girl named Ima who picks up Jack and thinks he’s a new toy.
Greno said “the feisty character was inspired by an actual young girl they met while visiting Spain, who tossed a soccer ball over their heads, raced their rental car, and declared that ‘she was princess of her people.’”
Gigantic is scheduled for a 2018 release.
News source: Entertainment Weekly
Photo credit: Twitter.com/Disney
