[3] It stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the titular character alongside Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, and Richard Ayoade.

By practising Imdad's meditations of staring into a candle flame at eye level while picturing the face of the person he loves most in the world, Henry manages to see through the backs of playing cards to read the face value after three years of practice, something that Imdad had been told that only one in a billion would be able to do in a short amount of time.

Henry decides to travel worldwide, winning money from casinos with his ability under varying disguises and establishing a network of successful hospitals and orphanages.

[8] The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar project was confirmed on January 7, 2022, the day after it was reported that Wes Anderson was set to write and direct the film adaptation, with Netflix distributing.

[9] It was announced that Benedict Cumberbatch would star as Sugar, with Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel and Ben Kingsley in supporting roles.

[13] The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar premiered out-of-competition at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2023.

[19] In Variety, Peter Debruge called the film "delightfully tight" and added that Dahl's short story "proves a good match for Anderson's intricate approach".

[20] Similarly, Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is a perfectly well-balanced reduction.

[22] Glenn Kenny from RogerEbert.com gave the film a 4 out of 4 stars and wrote that, "It’s disarming and lovely to see a spiritual growth parable rendered in Anderson’s jewel-box style.