News Netflix plans to animate just about every Roald Dahl novel

[The Nth Doctor]

Netflix announced today that they're planning to animate just about every major Roald Dahl novel!

Less than a few months after announcing it intended to unspool C.S. Lewis’ Narnia universe in full, Netflix has now announced it will be animating just about every major title in the library of beloved children’s author Roald Dahl. That includes Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The BFG, The Twits, and, at long last, Charlie And The Great Glass Elevator, among others.

Calling it a “first-of-its-kind” event, the effort will not only adapt Dahl’s myriad tales, but also build out “an imaginative story universe that expands far beyond the pages of the books themselves” in, as Netflix’s Melissa Cobb puts it, “fresh, contemporary ways.” So, basically, if you’ve ever wanted to see Matilda eat a snozzberry, now’s your chance.

“Our mission, which is purposefully lofty, is for as many children as possible around the world to experience the unique magic and positive message of Roald Dahl’s stories,” Roald Dahl’s widow, Felicity Dahl, says in a press release. “This partnership with Netflix marks a significant move toward making that possible and is an incredibly exciting new chapter for the Roald Dahl Story Company. Roald would, I know, be thrilled.”

Other titles now under Netflix’s umbrella include George’s Marvellous Medicine, Boy – Tales of Childhood, Going Solo, The Enormous Crocodile, and many, many more.​

As someone who grew up reading Roald Dahl and still counts Dahl among his favorite authors, I'm pretty excited about this project. It means we finally get to see some of his lesser known stories adapted, including my personal favorite, George's Marvellous Medicine.

The only remain question is will the animation be in the style of Quentin Blake?

 

[Turtletrekker]

I've heard about Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, but know nothing about it.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I've heard about Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, but know nothing about it.

It's a fantastic read! Well, all of Dahl's stories are fantastic reads, but this one in particular. If nothing else, you need to read it for the Vermicious Knids.

 

[Kai "the spy"]

Netflix is obviously preparing for Disney and Warner Media to pull all their licences, so they develop even more of their own content.

 

[Tosk]

at long last, Charlie And The Great Glass Elevator

Holy cow, finally!

 

[RunningValkyrie]

I’m happy to hear this! He wrote a bunch of really great books!

 

[Owain Taggart]

You know, for all of its faults, I felt the recent BFG movie was amazing.

 

[Relayer1]

I've disliked everything Roald Dahl related that I've ever come across - I'll pass.

Mrs Relayer's a fan though...

 

[JD]

I'm very curious about this. I've only read part of James & the Giant Peach back in grade school, but I've enjoyed both Chocolate Factory movies, the James and the Giant peach movie, and The Witches movie.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

For whatever reason, A.V. Club didn't include this announcement video (mind you, it's not much) or a proper full list of titles that Netflix has the rights of (as oppose to unclearly and randomly listing titles in two different paragraphs):

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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The BFG, The Twits, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, George’s Marvellous Medicine, Boy – Tales of Childhood, Going Solo, The Enormous Crocodile, The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, Henry Sugar, Billy and the Minpins, The Magic Finger, Esio Trot, Dirty Beasts, and Rhyme Stew.​

I've disliked everything Roald Dahl related that I've ever come across - I'll pass.

That's all I've got.

 

[kirk55555]

Oh yes, because if there is one thing the world needs, its another adaptation of Willy Wonka, a movie that was done perfectly the first time (I don't care if it wasn't book accurate, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is still basically a perfect family movie).

Also, this is the stupidest Cinematic Universe attempt I've ever heard of, which is impressive at this point. Still, I'm sure his fans will enjoy the end result, even if half the books have adaptations that people like already (seriously, for a guy that had one good book/idea, he certainly gets a lot of adaptations of random stuff, I'm pretty sure this will be the 12,000th adaptation of The BFG, and that's not even counting the Doom movie ).

 

[The Nth Doctor]

kirk, Netflix is not doing a cinematic universe, rather they're doing a collective effort to adapt all of the Dahl stories that they own the rights to. That said, I agree that A.V. Club's headline is misleading in that regard.

 

[Orac]

Splendid news! I re-read Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator with my son recently and was reminded how the American President was portrayed as a fool in it. I'm not sure who was the President when it was written, probbly Gerald Ford, do you think the Netflix adaption would change the President's character into a compulsively lying cruel bully to better reflect the times in which we live?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Hell, in a lot of ways, he's a Dahl-esque character. He would fit right in, just as long as he got his due comeuppance.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Great Glass Elevator is a fun read but it’s kind of out there and disjointed to make a movie. Will be interesting to see how they handle scenes like old men and women de-aging into babies and one vanishing into minusland.

 

[Reverend]

The book was published in '72, so it was most likely Nixon.

I've actually never read the Great Glass Elevator, though Dahl was practically required reading when I was in primary school. 'Charlie & the Chocolate Factory', 'The Twits', 'Matilda', 'The Witches', 'George's Marvellous Medicine', 'The BFG'. We even went on a field trip to see a stage production of 'Fantastic Mr Fox'.

 

[JD]

Would his stuff be worth reading as an adult?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Would his stuff be worth reading as an adult?

Yes, yes, yes, absolutely yes, what are you doing, go read them all now.

 

[Orac]

Would his stuff be worth reading as an adult?

Roald Dahl also published a series of short story collections written for adults. I've only read the compilation titled Kiss Kiss, but I'd recommend it. There are themes in the adult stories which recur in his children's books. Also one of the stories in Kiss Kiss was expanded into the childrens book Danny the Champion of the World.

 

[kirk55555]

kirk, Netflix is not doing a cinematic universe, rather they're doing a collective effort to adapt all of the Dahl stories that they own the rights to. That said, I agree that A.V. Club's headline is misleading in that regard.

Oh, ok, the article messed me up for a second. Its a sign of the times that I just accepted that as an actual thing, I guess