It stars an ensemble cast consisting of Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson (in her final film to date), Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet, Meryl Streep, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, James Norton, Louis Garrel, and Chris Cooper.

Sony Pictures initiated the development of the film in 2013, with Amy Pascal coming on board to produce in 2015 and Gerwig hired to write its screenplay the following year.

The film received critical acclaim, with particular praise for Gerwig's screenplay and direction as well as the performances of the cast, and grossed $218 million worldwide.

Amy becomes angry at Laurie's drunken behavior, prompting him to mock her for spending time with wealthy businessman Fred Vaughn.

Jo is hurt and angry when Friedrich Bhaer, a German professor who lives at her boarding house, gives critical feedback on her writing.

On Christmas morning, the girls' mother, "Marmee," persuades them to give their breakfast to their poor neighbors, Mrs. Hummel and her children.

Following Aunt March's death, Jo inherits her house and opens it as a school, where Meg, Amy, John, and Bhaer all teach.

In October 2013, it was announced that a new film adaptation of the novel Little Women by Louisa May Alcott was in development at Sony Pictures, with Olivia Milch writing the screenplay, and Robin Swicord and Denise Di Novi serving as producers.

[4] In March 2015, Amy Pascal joined as a producer on the new adaptation, with Sarah Polley hired to write the script and potentially direct.

[9] Pascal described Gerwig's pitch as "the ambition and the dreams that you have as a girl" and how they "get stomped out of you as you grow up" as well as "commerce and art and what we have to do to make things commercial.

[11][12] It was also announced in June 2018 that Meryl Streep, Emma Stone, Saoirse Ronan, Timothée Chalamet, and Florence Pugh had joined the cast of the film in undisclosed roles.

[17][18] Emma Watson joined the cast that same month, replacing Stone who dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with promoting The Favourite.

[23] Gerwig began penning the screenplay during a trip to Big Sur, California shortly after the 2018 Academy Awards, using Alcott's letters and diaries as well as "19th-century paintings of young women" as inspirations.

[31] Wanting to make "vintage clothes look covetable to the modern viewer", she paired "woollen sontags" with "preppy plaid skirts", "long crimson capes", and "jaunty newsboy caps".

[38] Additional locations included Lancaster, Harvard University in Cambridge, Crane Beach in Ipswich, and Concord, all in the state of Massachusetts.

[41] The March family house was built from scratch on a plot in Concord;[10] production designer Jess Gonchor intended for the exterior to exude "an old worn-out jewelry box that you found in your grandmother's drawer" while likening the interior to "a beautiful maze and flow and endless activity.

[39] Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum was used to shoot a scene set in a 19th century Paris park with Pugh, Chalamet, and Streep.

[56] Released in the United States and Canada alongside Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Jumanji: The Next Level, the film was projected to gross $18–22 million from 3,308 theaters over its five-day opening weekend.

The website's critics consensus reads: "With a stellar cast and a smart, sensitive retelling of its classic source material, Greta Gerwig's Little Women proves some stories truly are timeless.

[79] Writing for IndieWire, Kate Erbland highlighted Gerwig's "ambitious elliptical storytelling" and commended her direction for being neither "heavy-handed" nor "preachy".

[82] Awarding the film three-and-a-half out of four, Brian Truitt of USA Today lauded Gerwig's writing as "magnificent" and said it "makes Alcott's time and language feel effervescently modern and authentically nostalgic".

[83] Mick LaSalle, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, gave the film a mixed review, in which he complimented Gerwig's direction but criticized the nonlinear timeline and the "snooty" characters.

[84] Critics praised the cast's performances, with David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter highlighting their "lovely ensemble work", and TheWrap's Alonso Duralde saying that there was not "a single artificial moment" from any of the actors.

[85][86] Caryn James of BBC Online called Ronan's performance "luminous",[87] and Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt suggested that she "carries nearly every scene she's in".

[91] Chalamet was also praised by Peter Travers of Rolling Stone and Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post for the "innate charm and poignant vulnerability" as well as "playful physicality" in his performance.

[92][93] Time featured it on its list of the "100 Best Movies of the Past 10 Decades" as one of the best of the 2010s, writing that the film "is proof that there are always new ways to tell old stories, ensuring that they live far beyond our own preoccupations and tastes, never becoming last season's outmoded gown.

[97] Writing for the Los Angeles Times, social psychologists Devon Proudfoot and Aaron Kay concluded that the snub was due to a "general psychological tendency to unwittingly view women's work as less creative than men's".