"Bridge to Terabithia" was released in the US and Canada on February 16, 2007. The movie was successful in terms of earnings. With a budget of around $20 million, it collected US$137 million worldwide. The movie received positive reviews. Critics called it faithful to the children's novel. They said the visuals and performances made the movie imaginative. "Bridge to Terabithia" was nominated for seven awards. It won five of them at the Young Artist Awards.
Jesse "Jess" Aarons (Josh Hutcherson) is a fifth grader who wants to be an artist. He lives with his financially poor family in Lark Creek. He rides the bus to school with his little sister, May Belle (Bailee Madison). He avoids the school bully, Janice Avery (Lauren Clinton). In class, his classmates, Scott Hoager (Cameron Wakefield) and Gary Fulcher (Elliot Lawless) tease him. A new student his age named Leslie Burke (AnnaSophia Robb) comes to the school. At recess, Jess enters a running event, for which he had been training at home. Leslie also enters it. She manages to beat all the boys, including Jess. This irritates Jess. While going home, Jess and Leslie learn that they are next-door neighbors.
Later in the evening, Jess becomes angry to find his sister has drawn in his notebook. His strict father (Robert Patrick) sides with her. The next day at school, Leslie praises Jess' drawing ability. This is after she sees his notebook. They soon become best friends. After school, they go into the woods. There, they swing across a creek on a rope. Jess and Leslie find an abandoned tree house and a broken down truck on the other side of the creek. They invent a new world, which they call "Terabithia". The fantasy world reflects their lives. It comes to life as they explore the area. For the next few days, Jess and Leslie spend their free time in the tree house and learn about one another.
Leslie gives Jess an art kit for his birthday. This pleases Jess very much. Later, he gives her a puppy. She names it Prince Terrien. Once in Terabithia, they fight with various creatures, including a troll that looks like Janice Avery, the school bully. At school, May Belle shows her friend Alexandra what she has for her snack, Twinkies. Jess tells her that she should not brag about them. At recess, May Belle tells Jess and Leslie that Janice stole her Twinkies. Leslie becomes frustrated by Janice's fee for entering the toilet. Jess and Leslie play a trick on Janice. Everyone laughs at her at the bus for this.
Once Leslie's parents finish writing their book, she and Jess help paint their house. Jess is impressed by her parents' happiness and watches the family. At school on Friday, Leslie hears Janice crying in the bathroom. After Leslie talks with her, she learns that the reason why Janice is a bully is because she is abused by her father. They become friends. Jess and Leslie take Prince Terrein to Terabithia. There they fight off several creatures that look like students at their school. They decide to go home when it starts raining. The creek gets higher than ever due to the rain.
The next morning, Ms. Edmunds (Zooey Deschanel), Jess' music teacher, invites him on a one-on-one field trip to an art museum. Jess tries to ask his mother's permission. As she is half-asleep, he takes her mumbling as approval. Jess does not ask Leslie to come with him. When he returns home, Jess finds that his father and mother are worried. This is because they did not know where he was. His father tells him that Leslie drowned in the river that morning. This happened when Jess went to the museum. Jess is very sad to hear this. He visits the Burke family home with his parents to pay their respects. Leslie's father, Bill Burke (Latham Gaines), tells Jess that she loved him. He thanks him for being a very good friend to her, since she could not make friends at her old school. Jess feels very guilty for Leslie's death. His father consoles him to keep their friendship alive for her sake. Jess decides to re-imagine Terabithia and builds a bridge across the river to welcome a new ruler. He invites his sister, May Belle to enter Terabithia. She is delighted because she was not allowed to enter before. She and Jess make Terabithia even better, with Jess as king and his sister as princess.
Production for the movie began in February 2006, with a budget of around $20 million. The main photography for the movie was shot in Auckland, New Zealand in sixty days. movie editing took ten weeks. Post-production, music mixing, and visual effects took a few months. The movie was finished by November 2006. This was because the crew "had to rush" to finish it by February 16. The movie was directed by Gábor Csupó. Walden Media President Cary Granat first recommended him to direct the movie. Csupó had never done a live-action movie before. However, he said it "didn't worry Granat in the least". Csupó noted that he was interested in making the movie. He "had the ambition to do a live-action movie for a long time", but that he "didn't like anything until I read this book". He called the book "beautiful" and said that it "moved [him]". The cinematographer of "Bridge to Terabithia" was Michael Chapman. This was his final movie before he retired. Chapman mentioned in the film's DVD commentary that he retired after the movie because he wanted his last movie to be a good one. He said: "this is such a beautiful story, and it's exactly the kind of movie I want to do at this time in my life".
Director Csupó stated they had thought of no actors for the movie at first. The first actor cast was AnnaSophia Robb as Leslie Burke. Robb wrote Csupó "such a beautiful, heartwarming letter" that showed she loved the book and character. Csupó said Robb was cast for the movie because of "her letter, her enthusiasm, and her love of the material". Robb also talked with Lauren Levine, the producer of the movie, before casting even began. "[T]heir conversation convinced her that, without a doubt, AnnaSophia was meant for this role," Csupó stated. Levine said "it was just so clear in talking to her about all this fantasy that I was basically talking to Leslie, that she had that same kind of spark and magical presence. She might be physically different from Leslie in the book, but the spirit of Leslie and the spirit of AnnaSophia are nearly identical. It was a match made in heaven." With regard to the character, Robb said "[Leslie]'s one of those people who's just always lit up, who has this glow about her, and no one can bring her down. Leslie's such a lively and energetic character, it was really fun for me to become her."
Levine noted that "looking for Jess was a really tough hunt. We needed someone who could go from an introverted boy in an isolated world to someone who completely taps into his imagination and becomes a confident, brave leader in Terabithia. That's a heck of a range for such a young actor." Josh Hutcherson was not their first choice for the role of Jess Aarons. He was chosen as they "felt the chemistry between AnnaSophia Robb and him". Hutcherson said that he liked the project because of "the real life day-to-day drama as well as the arc of the character Jess".
The filmmakers cast Robert Patrick as Jess' father. He was chosen due to his experience in several movies in the past. Patrick explained that he could relate to the plot. He was "constantly creating imaginary worlds as a kid" himself, and that the movie reminded him of the place where he grew up. He also said that he agreed to act because it was a movie his children could watch.
Bailee Madison was cast as May Belle Aarons. Csupó said they searched for a long time for someone to play her role. She had "such a charm, even before the camera, she was just like a little sweetheart," he said. She was confident, shook hands with everybody and was "totally sweet and perky". Csupó was pleased by her attitude and cast her for the movie.