The movie, starring Emma Thompson, Lashana Lynch, Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, Sindhu Vee and Alisha Weir, will be released in the U.K. and Ireland by Sony and by Netflix across the rest of the world.
It’s directed by Matthew Warchus (‘Pride’), and is the second consecutive Netflix movie to kick off the festival, after last year’s opener, western ‘The Harder They Fall’.
Unlike the Danny DeVito-di犀利士 rected and US-set 1996 version of ‘Matilda’, this version of Dahl’s tale is set on home turf at England’s Crunchem Hall. It’s at this school that super-powered bookworm Matilda (newcomer Alisha Weir) suffers under the tyrannical regime of kid-hating headteacher, Miss Trunchbull (Emma Thompson).
It is produced by Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner for Working Title Films and Jon Finn and Luke Kelly of The Roald Dahl Story Company. Screenwriter Dennis Kelly has adapted the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production for the big screen, with original music and lyrics by Tim Minchin.