Netflix’s Matilda the Musical Streaming on Christmas

Magical. Mischievous. Miraculous: Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical is coming to theaters this December and streaming on Netflix on Christmas Day. Based on the Royal Shakespeare Company’s smash hit Tony and Olivier award-winning stage production, which is itself an adaptation of the beloved novel by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory author Roald Dahl, the film version stars Alisha Weir as the extraordinary little girl armed with a sharp mind and a vivid imagination. Netflix’s Matilda the Musical is now set to open in select theaters on December 9 before streaming in select territories on December 25. Watch the trailer below. 

Weir (Darklands) leads a cast that includes Stephen Graham (Boiling Point, Venom: Let There Be Carnage) and Andrea Riseborough (Birdman, Amsterdam) as Matilda’s neglectful parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood; Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel, No Time to Die) as Miss Honey, Matilda’s kind and understanding teacher; Sindhu Vee (Sex Education, Starstruck)as Mrs. Phelps, the story-telling librarian; and two-time Oscar winner Emma Thompson (Howards End, Sense and Sensibility, the Harry Potter franchise) as Trunch Bull, the child-hating headmistress of Crunchem Hall. 

The cast also features Meesha Garbett (Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw) and newcomersCharlie Hodson-Prior, Rei Yamauchi Fulker, Winter Jarrett Glasspool, Andrei Shen, and Ashton Robertson.

In Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical, Matilda Wormwood (Weir) is a little girl with big curiosity, a sharp mind, and a vivid imagination — and the worst parents in the world. While her parents (Graham and Riseborough) content themselves with trashy TV and dodgy money-making schemes, she loves to lose herself in the pages of her beloved books. Where they are loud, selfish and unkind she is a quiet observer, thinking up small and cheeky acts of rebellion and revenge.

On meeting her inspirational teacher, Miss Honey (Lynch), Matilda is encouraged and begins conjuring her own fantastical tales. Excited to attend Crunchem Hall, Matilda is surprised to find the school is an ominous and oppressive place led by the huge and villainous Miss Trunchbull (Thompson).

As well as kind Miss Honey, the bright lights among the meanness are story-loving librarian, Mrs. Phelps (Vee), and Matilda’s newfound school friends. Filled with an overwhelming sense of justice, Matilda dares to take a stand for what is right and teach Trunchbull a lesson she won’t forget.

Matthew Warchus (Old Vic in Camera: A Christmas Carol) directs the film adaptation of the stage musical with original music and lyrics by Tim Minchin (Upright, Broadway’s Groundhog Day). The producers are Tim Bevan (Cats, Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid) and Eric Fellner (Les Misérables, Yesterday) of Working Title, Jon Finn (Billy Elliot, Netflix’s Fate: The Winx Saga), and The Roald Dahl Story Company’s Luke Kelly (The Witches, the upcoming Wonka). 

Netflix will stream Matilda the Musical in most territories, except for the UK and Ireland, on December 25. Sony Pictures UK and Tristar Pictures will release the film exclusively in UK and Ireland cinemas on December 2; in the U.S., Matilda hits select theaters on December 9 ahead of its Christmas Day streaming debut on Netflix.