Big piano for Philadelphia museum

Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia played the instrument in the film

The 16ft (4.9m) piano Tom Hanks walked on in his 1988 hit film Big has been given to a US children's museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The instrument was offered to the Please Touch Museum by a US couple who bought it after the film's release.

It was built in Philadelphia by Remo Saraceni, who called his invention a Walking Piano.

In the movie, Hanks and actor Robert Loggia jump on the giant piano and play a duet of tunes including Chopsticks.

The three-octave piano will be on display starting next month.

"We love this piece," owner Joseph Shein told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

'Electronic sculpture'

Originally bought with his wife Janet, the couple kept it in their music room and allowed neighbourhood trick-or-treaters to perform on it at Halloween.

Mr Shien said the couple bought it not so much for their love of music but because "we felt it was a new direction for electronic sculpture".

Big saw Hanks star as a boy who, after wishing to be big on a fairground machine, wakes up the next morning to find himself a grown man.

The film was nominated for two Academy Awards including one for Hanks for best actor, but he lost out on the night to Dustin Hoffman for Rain Man.