Charlotte's Web is a live-action/computer-animated feature film, based on the popular book of the same name by E.B. White. It is directed by Gary Winick and produced by Paramount Pictures, Walden Media, Kerner Entertainment Company, and Nickelodeon Movies. The screenplay is by Susannah Grant and Karey Kirkpatrick, based on White's book. It is the second film adaptation of White's book, following a 1973 cel-animated version produced for Paramount by Hanna-Barbera.

The movie was at one time intended for a June 2006 release, but was pushed back to December 2006 to avoid competition with two other films from Nickelodeon Movies -- Nacho Libre and Barnyard -- as well as Over the Hedge among other films. It was released in Australia on December 7, 2006 and was released in the United States on December 15, 2006, having been rescheduled from December 20. The U.S.release date matches that of 20th Century Fox's Eragon, another film with fantasy elements and a young protagonist. The scheduled release date in the UK is February 9, 2007.

The film is rated G by the MPAA.

The slogan of the movie, according to the trailer and website, is "Help is coming from above."

Wilbur is the pet piglet of a young girl named Fern Arable. Unfortunately, when he grows into an adult pig, Fern is forced to take him to the Zuckerman farm, where he will be prepared as dinner in due time.

Charlotte A. Cavatica, a spider, lives in the space above Wilbur's sty in the Zuckermans' barn; she befriends Wilbur and decides to help prevent him from being eaten. With the help of the other barn animals, including a rat named Templeton, she convinces the Zuckerman family that Wilbur is actually quite special, by spelling out such descriptions as "Some Pig" in her web. Charlotte gives her full name as "Charlotte A. Cavatica", revealing her as a barn spider, an orb-weaver spider with the scientific name Araneus cavaticus.

Reviews were generally positive, especially with respect to Dakota Fanning's portrayal of Fern. Michael Medved gave Charlotte's Web three and a half stars (out of four) calling it "..irresistible.." and "..glowing with goodness.." Medved also said that Dakota Fanning performance was "..delightfully spunky.." Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman complains that the film is "a bit noisy" but applauds the director for putting "the book, in all its glorious tall-tale reverence, right up on screen." He goes on to say that "What hooks you from the start is Dakota Fanning's unfussy passion as Fern".

This was Thomas Haden Church's second family film to be released by Paramount Pictures in 2006, the first being Over the Hedge, which was made by DreamWorks Animation. Paramount had distributed the film as a result of its acquisition of DreamWorks, whose animation division became its own company in late 2004.

Major shooting was completed in May 2006. It was filmed on location in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria and suburbs in Melbourne, Australia. The fair scene in the story was filmed in Heidelberg in Melbourne, Australia at Heidelberg West Football Club's football ground.

Visual effects are by Rising Sun Pictures, Fuel International, Proof, Rhythm and Hues Studios, Digital Pictures Iloura and Tippett Studio. The visual effects supervisors include Tim Landry, Clay Pinney and John Berton.

It has been reported that Zuckerman's truck failed to start during the filming of the last scene, and was instead towed behind another (off-camera) truck.

Danny Elfman left Spider-Man 3 to score this movie; Thomas Haden Church has roles in both of them. Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan performs a song entitled "Ordinary Miracle" for the movie, which was written by Glen Ballard and David A. Stewart of The Eurythmics. Music by Drowning Pool was not included on the film's soundtrack CD, titled Charlotte's Web: Music from the Motion Picture. This was released on December 5, 2006, and featured primarily Elfman's score, plus "Ordinary Miracle". A CD compilation of "Music Inspired by the Motion Picture" was issued on December 12, 2006.

A video game of the movie will be published by THQ, Sega and developed by Studio Gigante and will be available for the GBA and Nintendo DS. When it comes to DVD December 11, 2007, a year later, a Wii and Gamecube version will be released. It will be released on December 12, 2006 and December 18, 2007.