The second film adaptation of the novel, following Matilda (1996), it stars Alisha Weir as the title character, alongside Lashana Lynch, Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, Sindhu Vee, and Emma Thompson.

In the plot, Matilda Wormwood (Weir), neglected and mistreated by her parents (Graham and Riseborough), develops psychokinetic abilities to deal with the injustices of life, as well as Miss Trunchbull (Thompson), the ruthless and cruel headmistress of Crunchem Hall School.

Christopher Nightingale, who had written background music for the stage production, was also hired to return as composer of the film's incidental score.

She visits the mobile librarian Mrs Phelps and tells her a story - in instalments - about an acrobat and an escapologist who have a baby together but who have their lives destroyed by a wicked sister.

Angry about being fined for not sending his daughter to school, Mr Wormwood tells tyrannical headmistress, Miss Agatha Trunchbull, that Matilda is a horrible child.

At home, when Matilda criticises her father, he rips her library book apart and sends her to bed; the next day, she retaliates by putting glue in his hat so it sticks to his head.

During lunch, Trunchbull accuses Matilda of stealing a slice of her private chocolate cake, but Bruce Bogtrotter accidentally reveals he is the culprit by belching.

Bruce's success thrills Matilda, Miss Honey, and the students, but Trunchbull still punishes him by taking him out to the Chokey, a tight, spiked cupboard.

After school, Matilda returns to Mrs Phelps and continues her story: the now-pregnant acrobat is forced to perform a dangerous stunt by her stepsister; she is horribly injured and dies after giving birth to a daughter.

[4] Mara Wilson, who previously starred in the 1996 film adaptation of the novel directed by Danny DeVito, said, "Maybe if they made it into a movie, I could have a cameo, but that's for them to decide.

[8][13] Filming primarily took place at Shepperton Studios in Surrey,[14] with locations including Bramshill House, a Grade I-listed Jacobean manor in Hampshire for Crunchem Hall; and Denham in Buckinghamshire, for scenes set in Matilda's home village.

[17] The film's soundtrack album, containing both the songs and Nightingale's score, was released worldwide on 18 November 2022 digitally and 9 December 2022 on physical CD, by Milan Records.

The film received a limited theatrical release in the United States and internationally on 9 December 2022, before streaming on Netflix on Christmas Day 2022.

[8][20] A sing-along edition opened across United Kingdom cinemas for a limited time starting on New Year's Day 2023; a preview screening was shown on 17 December 2022, in aid of MediCinema.

[23] In its opening weekend, 25 November 2022, Matilda topped the UK box office with a gross of $5,000,505, beating the previous two weeks' holder Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

The website's consensus reads: "Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical brings the classic story back to the screen with a delightful Emma Thompson, dazzling dancing, and a suitably irascible take on the source material.

[31] The Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw stated "the gleefully sly comedy kindred spirits of Thompson and Minchin come together to form the film's bedrock of naughtiness".