Matilda
It can’t be world book day without Roald Dahl, and while quite a few of his books have been made into movies, our out and out favourite is Matilda. Made into a film in 1996 by Danny DeVito and starring Mara Wilson, the story was also transformed into a musical by Tim Minchin, which resulted in another film, this time Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical in 2022. Directed by Matthew Warchus, this version is a delightful confection of stirring musical belters, cute little revolting children and sumptuous visuals. Get and see it, it’s better than the book!
“Matilda is a tangy bit of entertainment, served up with gusto. Like the Wotsits and the Curly-Wurly shown in various scenes, it’s pretty moreish.” - The Guardian
Annihilation
Director Alex Garland transformed Jeff Van De Meer’s Novel, Annihilation into a striking film starring Natalie Portman in 2014. The novel, which has been described as an ‘eco-horror’ story, presented a daunting challenge to bring to the screen. Luckily, Garland was more than up to that task and Annihilation is visually one of the most haunting, atmospheric and evocative films we’ve seen.
"Sci-fi at its best" - Empire Magazine
Check out our Annihilation breakdown reel.
The Midnight Sky
Based on Good Morning, Midnight, the 2016 book by Lily Brooks Dalton, director George Clooney delivered his film version, called The Midnight Sky, in 2020. Also starring in the lead role, Clooney plays a lone scientist Augustine making a desperate journey across the arctic to reach a station with a working transmitter, where he can warn a returning space ship that Earth is no longer habitable. Brooks Dalton’s debut novel brings the reader on an emotional journey, and the film is also tender and evocative, as well as being packed with action and drama.
"High-action sequences are rationed, tautly orchestrated and used to devastating effect." - NME
Take a look at our Previs reel for The Midnight Sky.
Foundation
Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy was written in the 1950s, but waited 70 years before it saw its screen debut in the Skydance TV series of the same name. Not your average sci-fi, what it lacks in lasers and space battles, it makes up for in existential questions about survival and what it means to fight for something the protagonists will never live to see come to fruition. In series one the ambitious scope of the adaptation more than matches that of the trilogy, we can’t wait to see what the next series has to offer.
"Smart world-building, sweeping directing, and lush visuals that differentiate every timeline with finesse." - Variety