James and the Giant peach ( film ) - wikipedia James and the Giant peach ( film ) James and the Giant Peach Theatrical release poster Directed by Henry Selick Produced by Denise Di Novi Tim Burton Screenplay by Karey Kirkpatrick Jonathan Roberts Steve Bloom Based on James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl Starring Paul Terry Simon Callow Richard Dreyfuss Jane Leeves Joanna Lumley Miriam Margolyes Susan Sarandon Pete Postlethwaite David Thewlis Music by Randy Newman Cinematography Pete Kozachik Hiro Narita Edited by Stan Webb Production company Walt Disney Pictures Allied Filmmakers Skellington Productions Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Release date April 12, 1996 ( 1996 - 04 - 12 ) ( United States ) August 2, 1996 ( 1996 - 08 - 02 ) ( United Kingdom ) Running time 79 minutes Country United Kingdom United States Language English Budget $38 million Box office $28.9 million ( U.S. ) James and the Giant Peach is a 1996 British - American musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick, based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Roald Dahl. It was produced by Tim Burton and Denise Di Novi, directed by Henry Selick, and starred Paul Terry as James. The film is a combination of live action and stop - motion animation. Co-stars Joanna Lumley and Miriam Margolyes played James 's aunts in the live - action segments, and Simon Callow, Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, Jane Leeves, David Thewlis, and Margoyles voiced his insect friends in the animation sequences. Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 2.1 Voices 3 Production 4 Reception 4.1 Awards and nominations 5 Home media 6 Music 6.1 Track listing 7 References 8 External links Plot James Henry Trotter is a young boy who lives with his parents by the sea in England. On James ' birthday, they plan to go to New York City and visit the Empire State Building, the tallest building in the world. However, his parents are killed by a ghostly rhinoceros from the sky and James finds himself living with his two ignorant and cruel aunts, Spiker and Sponge. He is forced to work all day and they antagonize him by threatening him with beatings to keep him in line and torment him about the mysterious rhino and other hazards if he ever attempts to escape. While rescuing a spider from being squashed by his aunts, James meets a mysterious man with a bag of magic green `` crocodile tongues '', which he gives to James to make his life better. The man instructs him not to lose the `` tongues '' and disappears. When James is returning to the house, he trips and the `` tongues '' escape into the ground. This transforms a peach on a withered old tree into enormous proportions. Spiker and Sponge sell tickets to view the giant peach. James crawls inside a large hole he inadvertently creates in the peach, and he finds and befriends a group of life - size anthropomorphic bugs ( Mr. Grasshopper, Mr. Centipede, Earthworm, Miss Spider, Mrs. Ladybug, and Glowworm ). As they hear the aunts search for James, Mr. Centipede cuts the stem connecting the giant peach to the tree and the peach rolls away to the Atlantic Ocean. Remembering his dream to visit New York City, James and the insects decide to go there with Mr. Centipede steering the peach. They use Miss Spider 's silk to capture and tie a hundred seagulls to the peach stem, while battling against a giant robotic shark. Miss Spider reveals to James that she was the spider he saved from Spiker and Sponge. The next day, James and his friends find themselves in The Arctic ; the Centipede has fallen asleep while keeping watch. After hearing Mr. Grasshoper wishing they had a compass, Mr. Centipede jumps off the peach into the icy water below and searches a sunken ship for a compass but is taken prisoner by skeletal pirates. James and Miss Spider rescue him and the journey continues. As they reach New York City, a storm appears, along with the ghostly rhino. James is frightened but challenges the rhino and gets his friends to safety before the rhino strikes the peach with lightning ; James and the peach fall to the city below, landing on top of the Empire State Building. After he is rescued by police officers, firefighters, and the largest crane in New York City, Spiker and Sponge arrive and attempt to claim James and the peach. James reveals Spiker and Sponge 's abusive behavior towards him to the crowd, who gasp in shock at the revelation. Spiker and Sponge become enraged by James ' betrayal and attempt to kill him. The bugs arrive and tie up Spiker and Sponge with Miss Spider 's silk and both aunts are arrested. James introduces his friends to the New Yorkers and allows the children to eat up the peach. The peach pit is made into a house in Central Park, where James lives happily with the bugs, who form his new family and also take important jobs in the city. James celebrates his ninth birthday with his new family. 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 Earthworm Miriam Margolyes as Glowworm Production Walt Disney Pictures acquired the film rights to the book from the Dahl estate in 1992. The film begins with normal live - action for the first 20 minutes, but becomes stop - motion animation after James enters the peach, and then live - action when James enters New York City ( although the arthropod characters remained in stop - motion ). Selick had originally planned James to be a real actor through the entire film, then later considered doing the whole film in stop - motion ; but ultimately settled on entirely live - action and entirely stop - motion sequences, to keep lower costs. Unlike the novel, James ' aunts are not killed by the rolling peach ( though his parents ' deaths occur as in the novel ) but follow him to New York. Reception Though Roald Dahl refused numerous offers to have a film version of James and the Giant Peach produced during his lifetime, his widow, Liccy, approved an offer to have a live action version produced. She thinks Roald `` would have been delighted with what they did with James. It is a wonderful film. '' Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 93 % based on reviews from 69 critics, with an average score of 7.2 / 10. The site 's consensus states : `` The arresting and dynamic visuals, offbeat details and light - as - air storytelling make James and the Giant Peach solid family entertainment ''. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a positive review, praising the animated part, but calling the live - action segments `` crude. '' 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. '' Awards and nominations The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score, by Randy Newman. It won Best Animated Feature Film at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival. Year Award Nominee Result 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 Academy Awards Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score Randy Newman Nominated Annecy International Animated Film Festival Best Animated Feature Film Henry Selick Won 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 Home media A digitally restored Blu - ray / DVD combo pack was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on August 3, 2010 in the United States. Music James and the Giant Peach Soundtrack album by Randy Newman Released 12 April 1996 ( 1996 - 04 - 12 ) Length 50 : 03 Label Walt Disney Records Track listing James and the Giant Peach ( An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack ) No. Title Length 1. `` My Name Is James ( Performed by Paul Terry ) '' 2 : 38 2. `` That 's the Life For Me ( Performed by Jeff Bennett, Susan Sarandon, Jane Leeves, Miriam Margolyes, Simon Callow & David Thewlis ) '' 1 : 59 3. `` Eating the Peach ( Performed by Jeff Bennett, Susan Sarandon, Jane Leeves, Miriam Margolyes, Simon Callow, David Thewlis and Paul Terry ) '' 2 : 54 4. `` Family ( Performed by Simon Callow, Jeff Bennett, Jane Leeves, David Thewlis, Susan Sarandon, Miriam Margolyes and Paul Terry ) '' 2 : 43 5. `` Main Title : James And The Giant Peach '' 0 : 37 6. `` Clouds '' 1 : 40 7. `` Spiker, Sponge, And A Rhino '' 3 : 24 8. `` Magic Man '' 4 : 15 9. `` Giant Peach '' 1 : 54 10. `` Into The Peach '' 2 : 04 11. `` James Makes Some Friends '' 1 : 08 12. `` The Peach Rolls '' 2 : 37 13. `` All At Sea / That 's The Life ( Reprise ) '' 2 : 12 14. `` 100 Seagulls And One Shark '' 1 : 58 15. `` Lullaby '' 1 : 57 16. `` James ' Dream '' 1 : 03 17. `` Way Off Course '' 1 : 47 18. `` The Rhino Attacks '' 2 : 50 19. `` Empire State Building '' 2 : 17 20. `` New York City '' 2 : 53 21. `` Spiker And Sponge Come To America '' 2 : 15 22. `` A Place Where Dreams Come True '' 3 : 58 23. `` Good News ( Performed by Randy Newman ) '' 4 : 20 Total length : 50 : 03 References Jump up ^ `` James and the Giant Peach ''. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 3, 2015. Jump up ^ Setoodah, Ramin ( July 29, 2016 ). `` From ' The BFG ' to ' Matilda ' : How 5 Roald Dahl Books Landed on the Big Screen ''. Variety. Retrieved July 8, 2016. ^ Jump up to : Nichols, Peter M. ( 2003 ). The New York Times Essential Library : Children 's Movies. New York : Henry Holt and Company. pp. 134 -- 136. ISBN 0 - 8050 - 7198 - 9. Jump up ^ Evans, Noah Wolfgram. `` Layers : A Look at Henry Selick ''. Retrieved December 12, 2008. Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ James and the Giant Peach at Rotten Tomatoes Jump up ^ Gleiberman, Owen ( April 19, 1996 ). `` James and the Giant Peach ( 1996 ) review ''. Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on June 27, 2010. Retrieved December 12, 2008. Jump up ^ Maslin review Jump up ^ `` James and the Giant Peach - Awards - IMDb ''. Retrieved July 5, 2016. Jump up ^ Foster, Dave ( May 19, 2010 ). `` James and the Giant Peach ( US BD ) in August ''. The Digital Fix. Archived from the original on June 27, 2010. Retrieved June 27, 2010. External links Wikiquote has quotations related to : James and the Giant Peach Official website James and the Giant Peach on IMDb James and the Giant Peach at The Big Cartoon DataBase James and the Giant Peach at AllMovie James and the Giant Peach at Box Office Mojo James and the Giant Peach at Rotten Tomatoes Films directed by Henry Selick The Nightmare Before Christmas ( 1993 ) James and the Giant Peach ( 1996 ) Monkeybone ( 2001 ) Coraline ( 2009 ) The Shadow King ( TBA ) Tim Burton Filmography Frequent collaborators Unproduced projects Tim Burton Productions Directorial works Feature films Pee - wee 's Big Adventure ( 1985 ) Beetlejuice ( 1988 ) Batman ( 1989 ) Edward Scissorhands ( 1990 ) Batman Returns ( 1992 ) Ed Wood ( 1994 ) Mars Attacks ! ( 1996 ) Sleepy Hollow ( 1999 ) Planet of the Apes ( 2001 ) Big Fish ( 2003 ) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ( 2005 ) Corpse Bride ( 2005 ) Sweeney Todd : The Demon Barber of Fleet Street ( 2007 ) Alice in Wonderland ( 2010 ) Dark Shadows ( 2012 ) Frankenweenie ( 2012 ) Big Eyes ( 2014 ) Miss Peregrine 's Home for Peculiar Children ( 2016 ) Dumbo ( 2019 ) Short films The Island of Doctor Agor ( 1971 ) Stalk of the Celery Monster ( 1979 ) Hansel and Gretel ( 1982 ) Vincent ( 1982 ) Frankenweenie ( 1984 ) Stainboy ( 2000 ) Music videos `` Bones '' `` Here with Me '' Produced only The Nightmare Before Christmas ( 1993 ) Cabin Boy ( 1994 ) Batman Forever ( 1995 ) James and the Giant Peach ( 1996 ) 9 ( 2009 ) Abraham Lincoln : Vampire Hunter ( 2012 ) Alice Through the Looking Glass ( 2016 ) Literature The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories ( 1997 ) Television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents ( `` The Jar '', 1986 ) Faerie Tale Theatre ( `` Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp '', 1986 ) Beetlejuice ( 1989 -- 91 ) Family Dog ( 1993 ) Randy Newman Studio albums Randy Newman ( 1968 ) 12 Songs ( 1970 ) Sail Away ( 1972 ) Good Old Boys ( 1974 ) Little Criminals ( 1977 ) Born Again ( 1979 ) Trouble in Paradise ( 1983 ) Land of Dreams ( 1988 ) Bad Love ( 1999 ) Harps and Angels ( 2008 ) Dark Matter ( 2017 ) Live albums Randy Newman Live ( 1971 ) Compilations Lonely at the Top : The Best of Randy Newman ( 1987 ) Guilty : 30 Years of Randy Newman ( 1998 ) The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1 ( 2003 ) The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 2 ( 2011 ) Musicals Randy Newman 's Faust ( 1995 ) Films scored Cold Turkey ( 1971 ) Ragtime ( 1981 ) The Natural ( 1984 ) Parenthood ( 1989 ) Awakenings ( 1990 ) Avalon ( 1990 ) The Paper ( 1994 ) Maverick ( 1994 ) Toy Story ( 1995 ) James and the Giant Peach ( 1996 ) Michael ( 1996 ) Cats Do n't Dance ( 1997 ) A Bug 's Life ( 1998 ) Pleasantville ( 1998 ) Toy Story 2 ( 1999 ) Meet the Parents ( 2000 ) Monsters, Inc. ( 2001 ) Seabiscuit ( 2003 ) Meet the Fockers ( 2004 ) Cars ( 2006 ) Leatherheads ( 2008 ) The Princess and the Frog ( 2009 ) Toy Story 3 ( 2010 ) Monsters University ( 2013 ) Cars 3 ( 2017 ) Soundtrack albums Avalon ( 1990 ) Meet the Parents ( 2000 ) Cars ( 2006 ) The Princess and the Frog ( 2009 ) Songs `` Mama Told Me Not to Come '' `` Sail Away '' `` He Gives Us All His Love '' `` Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear '' `` Political Science '' `` You Can Leave Your Hat On '' `` Louisiana 1927 '' `` Rednecks '' `` Short People '' `` I Love L.A. '' `` You 've Got a Friend in Me '' `` When She Loved Me '' `` We Belong Together '' `` It 's a Jungle Out There '' Related Discography Brill Building Nilsson Sings Newman Family Alfred Newman David Newman Emil Newman Joey Newman Lionel Newman Thomas Newman Roald Dahl Children 's fiction The Gremlins ( 1943 ) James and the Giant Peach ( 1961 ) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ( 1964 ) The Magic Finger ( 1966 ) Fantastic Mr Fox ( 1970 ) Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator ( 1972 ) Danny, the Champion of the World ( 1975 ) The Enormous Crocodile ( 1978 ) The Twits ( 1980 ) George 's Marvellous Medicine ( 1981 ) The BFG ( 1982 ) The Witches ( 1983 ) The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me ( 1985 ) Matilda ( 1988 ) Esio Trot ( 1990 ) The Vicar of Nibbleswicke ( 1991 ) The Minpins ( 1991 ) Children 's poetry Revolting Rhymes ( 1982 ) Dirty Beasts ( 1983 ) Rhyme Stew ( 1989 ) Adult novels Sometime Never : A Fable for Supermen ( 1948 ) My Uncle Oswald ( 1979 ) Adult short story collections Over to You : Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying ( 1946 ) Someone Like You ( 1953 ) Kiss Kiss ( 1960 ) Lamb to the Slaughter ( 1953 ) Switch Bitch ( 1974 ) The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More ( 1977 ) The Best of Roald Dahl ( 1978 ) Tales of the Unexpected ( 1979 ) More Tales of the Unexpected ( 1980 ) The Roald Dahl Omnibus ( 1986 ) Two Fables ( 1986 ) Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life : The Country Stories of Roald Dahl ( 1989 ) The Collected Short Stories of Roald Dahl ( 1991 ) The Roald Dahl Treasury ( 1997 ) The Great Automatic Grammatizator ( 1998 ) Skin and Other Stories ( 2000 ) Roald Dahl : Collected Stories ( 2006 ) Non-fiction The Mildenhall Treasure ( 1946 ) Boy : Tales of Childhood ( 1984 ) Going Solo ( 1986 ) Memories with Food at Gipsy House ( 1991 ) Roald Dahl 's Guide to Railway Safety ( 1991 ) My Year ( 1993 ) Film adaptations 36 Hours ( 1965 ) Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory ( 1971 ) Danny, the Champion of the World ( 1989 ) The BFG ( 1989 ) The Witches ( 1990 ) Four Rooms ( 1995 ) James and the Giant Peach ( 1996 ) Matilda ( 1996 ) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ( 2005 ) Fantastic Mr. Fox ( 2009 ) Roald Dahl 's Esio Trot ( 2015 ) The BFG ( 2016 ) Revolting Rhymes ( 2016 ) Film scripts The Bells of Hell Go Ting - a-ling - a-ling ( 1966, unfinished ) You Only Live Twice ( 1967 ) Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ( 1968 ) The Night Digger ( 1971 ) Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory ( 1971 ) Television series ' Way Out ( 1961 ) Tales of the Unexpected ( 1979 -- 88 ) Musicals and plays The Honeys ( 1955 ) Matilda ( 2010 ) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ( 2013 ) Fantastic Mr Fox ( 2016 ) See also Quentin Blake Roald Dahl bibliography Roald Dahl short stories bibliography Roald Dahl 's Book of Ghost Stories ( 1983 ) List of Tales of the Unexpected episodes Related Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre Roald Dahl Children 's Gallery Patricia Neal ( wife ) Tessa Dahl ( daughter ) Ophelia Dahl ( daughter ) Lucy Dahl ( daughter ) Sophie Dahl ( granddaughter ) Disney theatrical animated features Walt Disney Animation Studios films Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( 1937 ) Pinocchio ( 1940 ) Fantasia ( 1940 ) Dumbo ( 1941 ) Bambi ( 1942 ) Saludos Amigos ( 1942 ) The Three Caballeros ( 1944 ) Make Mine Music ( 1946 ) Fun and Fancy Free ( 1947 ) Melody Time ( 1948 ) The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad ( 1949 ) Cinderella ( 1950 ) Alice in Wonderland ( 1951 ) Peter Pan ( 1953 ) Lady and the Tramp ( 1955 ) Sleeping Beauty ( 1959 ) One Hundred and One Dalmatians ( 1961 ) The Sword in the Stone ( 1963 ) The Jungle Book ( 1967 ) The Aristocats ( 1970 ) Robin Hood ( 1973 ) The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ( 1977 ) The Rescuers ( 1977 ) The Fox and the Hound ( 1981 ) The Black Cauldron ( 1985 ) The Great Mouse Detective ( 1986 ) Oliver & Company ( 1988 ) The Little Mermaid ( 1989 ) The Rescuers Down Under ( 1990 ) Beauty and the Beast ( 1991 ) Aladdin ( 1992 ) The Lion King ( 1994 ) Pocahontas ( 1995 ) The Hunchback of Notre Dame ( 1996 ) Hercules ( 1997 ) Mulan ( 1998 ) Tarzan ( 1999 ) Fantasia 2000 ( 1999 ) Dinosaur ( 2000 ) The Emperor 's New Groove ( 2000 ) Atlantis : The Lost Empire ( 2001 ) Lilo & Stitch ( 2002 ) Treasure Planet ( 2002 ) Brother Bear ( 2003 ) Home on the Range ( 2004 ) Chicken Little ( 2005 ) Meet the Robinsons ( 2007 ) Bolt ( 2008 ) The Princess and the Frog ( 2009 ) Tangled ( 2010 ) Winnie the Pooh ( 2011 ) Wreck - It Ralph ( 2012 ) Frozen ( 2013 ) Big Hero 6 ( 2014 ) Zootopia ( 2016 ) Moana ( 2016 ) Ralph Breaks the Internet : Wreck - It Ralph 2 ( 2018 ) Frozen 2 ( 2019 ) Gigantic ( 2020 ) Live - action films with animation The Reluctant Dragon ( 1941 ) Victory Through Air Power ( 1943 ) Song of the South ( 1946 ) So Dear to My Heart ( 1948 ) Mary Poppins ( 1964 ) Bedknobs and Broomsticks ( 1971 ) Pete 's Dragon ( 1977 ) Who Framed Roger Rabbit ( 1988 ) Enchanted ( 2007 ) DisneyToon Studios films DuckTales the Movie : Treasure of the Lost Lamp ( 1990 ) A Goofy Movie ( 1995 ) The Tigger Movie ( 2000 ) Return to Never Land ( 2002 ) The Jungle Book 2 ( 2003 ) Piglet 's Big Movie ( 2003 ) Pooh 's Heffalump Movie ( 2005 ) Bambi II ( 2006 ) Planes ( 2013 ) Planes : Fire & Rescue ( 2014 ) Other Disney units films The Nightmare Before Christmas ( 1993 ) James and the Giant Peach ( 1996 ) Doug 's 1st Movie ( 1999 ) Recess : School 's Out ( 2001 ) Teacher 's Pet ( 2004 ) A Christmas Carol ( 2009 ) Gnomeo & Juliet ( 2011 ) Mars Needs Moms ( 2011 ) Frankenweenie ( 2012 ) Strange Magic ( 2015 ) Related lists Unproduced films Book Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_and_the_Giant_Peach_(film)&oldid=796659347 '' Categories : 1996 films English - language films 1996 animated films 1990s American animated films 1990s fantasy films 1990s musical comedy films American films American children 's animated films American children 's fantasy films American fantasy - comedy films American musical comedy films Animated musical films Animated films about orphans British films British animated films British children 's animated films British children 's fantasy films British fantasy films British musical comedy films Disney animated films Films about children Film scores by Randy Newman Films based on works by Roald Dahl Films directed by Henry Selick Films featuring anthropomorphic characters Films produced by Denise Di Novi Films set in the 1950s Films using stop - motion animation Films with live action and animation Stop - motion animated films Walt Disney Pictures films Hidden categories : Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages Articles with hAudio microformats Album infoboxes lacking a cover Music infoboxes with deprecated parameters Talk View source Contents About Wikipedia Български Cymraeg Deutsch Español فارسی Français Galego Bahasa Indonesia Íslenska Italiano עברית Magyar Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Polski Português Русский Simple English Suomi Svenska 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 22 August 2017, at 09 : 30. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: who played the aunts in james and the giant peach
Answer: Joanna Lumley