Eek! Netflix is re-making your favourite Roald Dahl stories including Matilda and Willy Wonka
Roald Dahl fans, rejoice! On Tuesday, Netflix announced their plans to create animated adaptations of Roald Dahl’s acclaimed children novels including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and The Twits. We can barely contain our excitement.
The production, which is set to begin in 2019, is running in conjunction with the Roald Dahl Story Company, who control the author’s legacy in film, television and on the stage.
In the press release, Netflix assured they will be staying true to the “quintessential spirit and tone of Dahl”, but have “creative ambition to reimagine the journeys of so many treasured Dahl characters in fresh, contemporary ways”.
Meanwhile, the late author’s widow, Felicity Dahl, described the deal as an “incredibly exciting new chapter”. We certainly agree.
While it is unclear what format the production will take, Netflix have safely secured the rights to many of Roald Dahl’s most loved novels including George's Marvellous Medicine, The Enormous Crocodile, The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, The Magic Finger, Dirty Beasts and Boy: Tales of Childhood.
In the wake of Disney’s plans to launch their own streaming service, which would see all content removed from third party services such as Netflix, it is no surprise the streaming giant are investing heavily in animation. And we for one are totally down with it. Bring on the nostalgia!
While we wait, scroll down to see what you can watch on Netflix right now...
Alien Worlds
One for the sci-fi fans, Alien Worlds is all about imagining what life on other planets would look like by applying our laws of life to rest of the galaxy. Seriously interesting (and addictive) viewing.
Virgin River
Season 2 of this Alexandra Breckenridge hit has been dominating the Top 10 list since it dropped, and it's easy to see why, we're totally hooked. It follows Mel, a big-city nurse who answers an ad for a midwife in the remote California town of Virgin River, hoping to make a fresh start and begin to deal with her pain and grief.
Taking Lives
Ava
We can't wait for this one. After a hit goes dangerously wrong, a top assassin becomes marked for death by her own organisation as she fights to protect herself and her estranged family.
Out 7th December
MELINDA SUE GORDON/NETFLIXThe Prom
With a star-studded cast that includes Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep, this comedy-musical follows a a group theatre stars who head to small conservative Indiana town in support of a high school girl who wants to take her girlfriend to the prom.
Out 11th December
Sophie Giraud/NetflixTiny Pretty Things
We're calling it: this is one we're all going to be talking about. When ballet school student Cassie Shore mysteriously falls from a building, the school recruits another student who soon discovers that not everything is as it seems.
The official synopsis reads: "When tragedy strikes at Chicago’s most prestigious ballet school, where every dancer is both friend and foe who compete fiercely for coveted roles, it threatens to unravel close friendships and to expose a constellation of secrets that could bring down a world-renowned institution. When an attack brings down the star student at an elite ballet school, her replacement enters a world of lies, betrayal - and cutthroat competition."
Out 14th December
NetflixThe Midnight Sky
The world needed another George Clooney film right now, and Netflix answered our prayers. In a post-apocalyptic world, Augustine (Clooney) is a lone scientist in the Arctic racing to contact a crew of astronauts returning home to a mysterious global catastrophe.
Out 23rd December
ShutterstockArkansas
Low-level criminals Kyle (Liam Hemsworth) and Swin (Clark Duke) live by the orders of Arkansas-based drug kingpin named Frog (Vince Vaughn), who they've never met. But when a series of mistakes leads to a deal going terribly wrong, there are dangerous consequences.
Out now
NetflixYes, God, Yes
Starring Natalia Dyer of Stranger Things fame, Yes, God, Yes follows the story of a Catholic teen in the early 00s who discovers masturbation and attends a Catholic school retreat in the hope of suppressing her newfound sexual urges.
Out now
NetflixTrial 4
A truly gripping true crime doc that follows the story of Sean K. Ellis, a man charged as a teen for the 1993 killing of a Boston cop, who fights to prove his innocence while taking on the systemic racism poisoning the justice system and corrupting the police force.
Out now
Gareth Gatrell/NETFLIXJingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
Starring Forest Whitaker as legendary toymaker Jeronicus Jangle, Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey is the feel-good festive film we all need right now. Jangle enlists the help of his granddaughter to 'heal old wounds and reawaken the magic within' after his most prized possession is stolen.
Out now
NetflixThe Life Ahead
Returning to the screen for the first time in a decade, 86-year-old legendary actress Sophia Loren is Madame Rosa, a Holocaust survivor who takes in a 12-year-old Senegalese refugee Momo (newcomer Ibrahima Gueye) who recently robbed her.
Out now
New York Minute
Serving all the Noughties nostalgia is the M-K and A classic, in which two very different twin sisters (obv) travel to the Big Apple to fulfil their very different dreams – but throw in a couple of handsome fellas, one truancy officer and the black market, and it's safe to say things don't exactly go to plan for Jane and Roxy Ryan.
Out now
NetflixThe Social Dilemma
This is the Netflix film everyone is talking about right now (and making them delete their social media accounts). The docu-drama sees tech experts sounding the alarm on the impact social networking is having on humanity.
Out now
NetflixCriminal S2
With a very impressive cast (Kit Harrington, Sharon Hogan, and an almost unrecognisable Kunal Nayyar), the second season of this hit show focuses on the complex conversations during detective interrogation of criminals.
Out now
NetflixThe Duchess
Katherine Ryan's new comedy-drama follows a single mum raising her daughter in London, while trying to figure out if she should have another baby.
Out now
NetflixThe Devil All The Time
Another impressive cast – Bill Skarsgård, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson – bring this chilling drama to life. A young man is obsessed with protecting his loved ones in a small, corrupt, backwoods town in a post-World War II world.
Out now
NetflixEnola Holmes
GLAMOUR cover star Millie Bobby Brown shines as Enola Holmes, a young teen and Sherlock Holmes's little sister, who uses her own sleuthing skills on a mission to find her missing mother.
Out now
NetflixThe Kissing Booth 3
This just in: The Kissing Booth 3 is officially happening! The cast, including Joey King and Joel Courtney, took to Instagram to announce the upcoming third installment. Whilst we don't have a date for the sequel, there are a lot of unanswered questions from The Kissing Booth 2 so bring.it.one.
Release date: Summer 2021
NetflixDead To Me Season 3
Netflix have confirmed that comedy-drama Dead To Me has been renewed for a third and final season. Yaaaas! The show, which stars Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini, who initially bond during therapy for their dead husbands, has made major waves online. Although we don't have a date for the upcoming show, we are giddy. If you're behind, season 2 of the show is on Netflix now.
Release date: TBC
NetflixThe Umbrella Academy S3
Netflix announced on 10th November Netflix that The Umbrella Academy will return for a third season, woo! It'll return with 10 more one-hour episodes and production will kick off in February in Toronto, Canada. The finale of season 2 saw our heroes end on a pretty big cliffhanger, so we can't wait to see what happens next.
Release date TBC
