One Of The Best Fantasy Movies Of All Time Is Climbing The Streaming Charts
The 1996 film Matilda, bolstered by interest from the Netflix musical, is currently in HBO Max's Top Ten movies.
As we have said before, one of the best things about the advent of streaming services is the collective nostalgia that brings back an old favorite for all new renown. Long-coming sequels and franchise follow-ups like Wednesday, Top Gun: Maverick, Willow, and more bring an all-new love and adoration for the originals, and according to Flix Patrol, Matilda is getting the same treatment. Likely thanks to the musical that hit Netflix, 1996’s Matilda landed on the HBO Max Top Ten streaming movies for last week.
The fan-favorite kid’s movie from the mid-nineties showed up on the HBO Max Top Ten and spent 13 days among the most watched content on the site. While on January 19th it finally dropped out of the most watched, it remained on there for a surprisingly long time for a thirty-year-old kid’s movie. When considering that Matilda is holding its own among big new films like Elvis and The Menu, it makes the feat even more impressive.
The film follows the titular character as she navigates the discovery of a newfound telekinetic power in a private school with an abusive headmistress. All the while, she is attempting to deal with an abusive family that consists of a nefarious car salesman of a father, a bingo-obsessed mother, and a bullying brother. And, of course, like any good elementary school child, while she deals with all of this, she uses her powers for good to free the children from the headmistress and right the wrongs in their lives.
Matilda stars a bevy of 90s-era stars that made the film feel extremely relevant. The cast includes Mara Wilson as the lead character, who is best known for her roles in the Robin Williams comedy Mrs. Doubtfire and Miracle on 34th Street. Also joining her in the film is Danny DeVito (It’s Always Sunny in Philidelphia and Batman Returns), Rhea Perlman (four-time Emmy winner for Cheers), Embeth Davidtz (Army of Darkness and Mad Men), and Pam Ferris (Aunt Marge in Harry Potter and the Prisoners of Azkaban).
The movie is based on the 1988 novel Matilda by the goldmine of adaptations, Roald Dahl. Along with this novel being adapted into a film and a series, he also enjoyed seeing James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The BFG, and The Witches, featuring Anne Hathaway, adapted to film. His films have gone on to pull in over $357 million at the box office over the years.
Of course, if you are a fan of the film that Danny DeVito produced and directed, you can likely thank the Netflix musical adaptation for the renewed interest. And even though it is a thirty-year-old kid’s movie, there is no doubt that it found a way to hold its own against Elvis, The Menu, John Wick, and Central Intelligence. Even Dwayne Johnson, Keanu Reeves, and The King of Rock and Roll himself couldn’t keep Matilda down.
