Matilda

Synopsis

When Matilda Wormwood is born to her parents by the names of Harry and Zinnia Wormwood, they appear to be the meanest parents anyone can ever imagine having. Despite how extremely intelligent she is, Matilda is still being mistreated by her parents and her older brother, Mike Wormwood. At the age of four, she walks all the way to the public library after her family leaves. The librarian gives Matilda a library card, thus allowing her to borrow books to take home from the library. When Matilda solves a math puzzle that involves what Harry's profit was for selling used cars, he tells his daughter that when a person is bad, that person must be taught a lesson, advice in which children could punish their parents. With that advice, Matilda sneaks into her parents' bathroom and mixes her father's hair tonic with her mother's hair dye. Another time was when she put Super Super Glue inside her father's hat. One day, one of Harry's clients, Agatha Trunchbull, principal of Crunchem Hall Elementary School, buys a car from Wormwood Motors. Shortly after that, Harry enrolls Matilda to Crunchem Hall. Matilda is thrilled to finally be in a school for the first time, and meet some new friends, like Lavender and Hortensia. But on the first day, she sees that Miss Trunchbull, the principal, is really a bully. She wouldn't even allow a girl to wear pigtails in her school. Fortunately, Matilda's teacher, Miss Honey, is very kind and lovely. In fact, she even visits the Wormwoods' house to talk to her parents about Matilda, but instead, Harry and Zinnia tell her that education is overrated. In another day of school, Miss Trunchbull commands a student named Bruce Bogtrotter to eat a giant chocolate cake in front of the whole assembly. And in another day, she throws Matilda into the Chokie after realizing that her car she bought from Wormwood Motors had broken down. Later on, Matilda develops some magical powers, such as making a glass tip over, and make the cereal and the milk pour themselves into a bowl. And Miss Honey tells the story about her early life when she lived with her father and mean aunt. The girl was indeed Miss Honey, and Miss Trunchbull was Miss Honey's aunt. One night, Matilda goes to Miss Trunchbull's home and uses her magic powers to make Miss Honey's doll and two chocolates float out of a window. On the last (though not yet known to be the last) day where Miss Trunchbull remains principal of the school, she shows Matilda's red hair ribbon to the whole class that she dropped that night, and tries to punish Matilda one last time, until Miss Honey reveals her secret that Miss Trunchbull is her aunt, and Matilda starts terrorizing the Trunchbull by writing a message on the blackboard left by Miss Honey's dead father, Magnus. She terrorizes her some more by having some flying erasers attack her, then making her go for a spin on the globe, then all the students in the school join in with the terror against the Trunchbull by pelting her with food. Finally, the Trunchbull drives away and never comes back to the school, and Miss Honey moves back into her real home. As for the Wormwood family (minus Matilda), they are fleeing to Guam before the police catch them. Before they do so, they sign adoption papers in order to let Miss Honey adopt Matilda as her daughter. After the Wormwoods leave, Matilda and Miss Honey live a happy life together.

Cast

Character's name	Portrayed by
Matilda Wormwood	Mara Wilson
Harry Wormwood	Danny DeVito
Zinnia Wormwood	Rhea Perlman
Miss Honey	Embeth Davidtz
Miss Trunchbull	Pam Ferris
Michael Wormwood	Brian Levinson
FBI Agent #1	Paul Reubens
FBI Agent #2	Tracey Walter
Miss Phelps	Jean S. Howard
Lavender	Kiami Davael
Amanda Thripp	Jacqueline Steiger
Hortensia	Kira Spencer Hesser
Bruce Bogtrotter	Jimmy Karz
Magnus	Mark Watson
Cookie	Marion Dugan

In Other Languages

Language	Title
Japanese	マチルダ
Chinese	小魔女
Korean	마틸다
Thai	มาทิลดา

Production timeline

Principal photography lasted from May 8, 1995 to October 24, 1995.

Release timeline

Format	Country of origin	Date
Original theatrical	USA	August 2, 1996
VHS	USA	December 17, 1996
VHS	UK	May 1997
DVD	USA	July 22, 1997
VHS	South Korea	August 9, 1997
VHS	Japan	December 3, 1997
DVD	UK	May 26, 1998
DVD (Special Edition)	UK	June 21, 2004
VHS (Special Edition)	USA	August 3, 2004
DVD (Special Edition)	USA	June 7, 2005
Digital Download	USA	November 12, 2010
Digital HD	USA	October 1, 2012
Blu-ray Disc	UK	November 11, 2013
Blu-ray Disc	USA	December 3, 2013

Home video timeline

Format	Release Date(s)	List price	Notes
VHS	December 17, 1996	$14.95 (1999) $9.95 (June 25, 2002)
DVD	July 22, 1997	$27.95 (original price) $19.95 (May 22, 2001)	Only available in full screen format.
DVD	June 7, 2005	$24.99 (original price) $14.99 (2006) $12.99 (February 5, 2008) $9.99 (June 5, 2012)	After a long delay, Matilda was re-released on DVD as a Special Edition, with no changes to the film other than the conversion to "5.1 surround sound", and the addition of some special features.
Blu-ray	December 3, 2013	$19.99	This is the only time we see the film in anamorphic widescreen. It also includes a new featurette called "Afternoon Tea", and lots more languages (and subtitles) for the film. A digital copy was also available, but it expired on December 31, 2016.

Weblinks

http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/matilda (2005-2008)

Gallery

Rankings

Rank of worldwide release
Rank of release in North America
Rank of release on VHS worldwide
Rank of release on VHS in North America
Rank of release on DVD worldwide
Rank of release on DVD in North America
Rank of release on Blu-ray Disc worldwide
Rank of release on Blu-ray Disc in North America

Movies
Walt Disney/Buena Vista	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) • Pinocchio (1940) • Dumbo (1941) • Bambi (1942) • Cinderella (1950) • Alice in Wonderland (1951) • Peter Pan (1953) • Lady and the Tramp (1955) • Sleeping Beauty (1959) • 101 Dalmatians (1961) • Mary Poppins (1964) • The Jungle Book (1967) • The Aristocats (1970) • Robin Hood (1973) • The Little Mermaid (1989) • Beauty and the Beast (1991) • Aladdin (1992) • The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) • The Lion King (1994) • Pocahontas (1995) • Toy Story (1995) • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) • Hercules (1997) • Mulan (1998) • The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998) • A Bug's Life (1998) • Toy Story 2 (1999) • Monsters, Inc. (2001) • Finding Nemo (2003) • The Lion King 1½ (2004) • The Incredibles (2004) • Cars (2006) • Ratatouille (2007) • WALL-E (2008) • Up (2009) • The Princess and the Frog (2009) • Toy Story 3 (2010) • Tangled (2010) • Cars 2 (2011) • Brave (2012) • Wreck-It Ralph (2012) • Monsters University (2013) • Frozen (2013) • Big Hero 6 (2014) • Inside Out (2015) • The Good Dinosaur (2015) • Zootopia (2016) • Finding Dory (2016) • Moana (2016) • Cars 3 (2017) • Coco (2017) • Incredibles 2 (2018) • Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) • Toy Story 4 (2019) • Frozen II (2019)
Paramount/Lionsgate	Rango (2011) • Monster Trucks (2016/2017) • My Little Pony: The Movie (2017) • Sherlock Gnomes (2018) • Wonder Park (2019)
Universal/DreamWorks	How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) • Shrek (2001) • The Cat in the Hat (2003) • Shrek 2 (2004) • Shrek the Third (2007) • Shrek Forever After (2010) • Despicable Me (2010) • Hop (2011) • The Lorax (2012) • Despicable Me 2 (2013) • Minions (2015) • The Secret Life of Pets (2016) • Sing (2016) • Despicable Me 3 (2017) • The Grinch (2018) • The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019)
Columbia/Sony Pictures	Ghostbusters (1984) • Ghostbusters II (1989) • Hook (1991) • Matilda (1996) • Open Season (2006) • Surf's Up (2007) • Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) • The Smurfs (2011) • Arthur Christmas (2011) • The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012) • Hotel Transylvania (2012) • The Smurfs 2 (2013) • Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013) • Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015) • The Angry Birds Movie (2016) • Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017) • The Emoji Movie (2017) • The Star (2017) • Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018) • Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) • The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019)
20th Century Fox	Star Wars (1977) • The Empire Strikes Back (1980) • Return of the Jedi (1983) • Home Alone (1990) • Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) • Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) • Ice Age (2002) • Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) • Robots (2005) • Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) • Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) • Horton Hears a Who! (2008) • Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009) • Rio (2011) • Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) • Epic (2013) • Rio 2 (2014) • The Peanuts Movie (2015) • Ice Age: Collision Course (2016) • Ferdinand (2017)
Warner Bros./New Line Cinema	The Wizard of Oz (1939) • The Goonies (1985) • The Mask (1994) • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) • Happy Feet (2006) • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) • Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) • Happy Feet Two (2011) • The Lego Movie (2014) • Storks (2016) • The Lego Batman Movie (2017) • The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017) • Smallfoot (2018) • The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)
Anime/Other	Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) • My Little Pony: The Movie (1986) • Castle in the Sky (1986) • My Neighbor Totoro (1988) • Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) • Only Yesterday (1991) • Porco Rosso (1992) • Pom Poko (1994) • Whisper of the Heart (1995) • My Neighbors, the Yamadas (1999) • Spirited Away (2001) • The Cat Returns (2002) • Howl's Moving Castle (2004) • Ponyo (2008)

Sony Pictures
Logos		Film (Columbia/TriStar) • Home media • Television
Movies	Pre-2000	Ghostbusters (1984) • Ghostbusters II (1989) • Hook (1991) • Matilda (1996)
Movies	Animation	Open Season (2006) • Surf's Up (2007) • Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) • The Smurfs (2011) • Arthur Christmas (2011) • The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012) • Hotel Transylvania (2012) • The Smurfs 2 (2013) • Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013) • Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015) • The Angry Birds Movie (2016) • Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017) • The Emoji Movie (2017) • The Star (2017) • Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018) • Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) • The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019)
Home media		Hook (1992) • Matilda (1996) • Ghostbusters (1999) • Ghostbusters II (1999) • Matilda: Special Edition (2005) • Ghostbusters 1 & 2 (2005) • Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2010) • Hook (Blu-ray) (2011) • The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012) • Arthur Christmas (2012) • Hotel Transylvania (2013) • Matilda (Blu-ray) (2013) • Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2014) • Hotel Transylvania 2 (2016) • The Angry Birds Movie (2016) • The Emoji Movie (2017) • Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018)