To the surprise of many, 1996’s Matilda was actually a box office bomb, and here are eight reasons why the childhood favorite had a notoriously bad $33 million failure. Matilda is now considered to be a classic film, with the beloved adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book being so popular that it even spawned a Broadway musical, which itself got a movie titled Matilda: The Musical in 2023. Despite the film’s newfound popularity, Matilda was originally a financial bomb, with it losing a significant amount of money at the box office. A variety of factors played into the commercial failure of 1996’s Matilda adaptation, and here are eight of them.
1996’s Matilda, directed by Danny DeVito, is the immensely popular Americanized adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book. Matilda had a lot of buzz throughout its production, with the project spawning a bidding war for the rights to make the film. Despite this, the movie only made $33.5 million during its theatrical run against a budget of $36 million, with this figure not including marketing or distribution. Although Matilda went on to be a big success on home video, this initial box office failure was bad news for the film. Sadly, Matilda had eight major factors playing against it, leading to its status as a box office bomb.
8 Matilda Faced Big Competition At The Box Office
One of the biggest factors in Matilda‘s failure is that it faced big competition at the box office. Matilda went up against major films like A Time to Kill and Independence Day, both of which were released the month before and continued to be huge box-office successes throughout Matilda‘s theatrical run. For example, Independence Day ended up becoming one of the highest-grossing films of the 1990s, with it garnering a worldwide total of $817.4 million. Although it may have seemed like Matilda would be good counter programming, this didn’t turn out to be the case, leading to the film flopping hard.
7 Matilda Wasn’t Led By Huge Movie Stars
Another huge problem with Matilda was that the film wasn’t led by huge movie stars, which contributed to its box office failure. Although Danny DeVito is now a beloved actor, he wasn’t nearly as big in 1996, with movies like Twins and Batman Returns not yet giving him the power to fill seats for Matilda. The same can be said for Rhea Perlman, whose film career has gotten much bigger since Matilda‘s release. The biggest star in 1996’s Matilda is arguably Paul Reubens, who only had a minor role in the film as an FBI agent. Compared to Independence Day, which starred Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum, Matilda had nobody.
6 Matilda Didn’t Greatly Benefit From A Theatrical Experience
Matilda is a great film, but it’s hard to argue that it needs to be seen on the big screen. Matilda is a fairly small-scale children’s film known more for its humor than its grandiose visuals or action set pieces. Because of this, many audiences in 1996 simply didn’t feel the need to check out Matilda in theaters, with many viewers waiting until the film was released on home video. This is proven by the fact that Matilda didn’t make it big until its home video release. Matilda is great, but it just didn’t have the draw that is required to fill theaters.
5 Matilda Had A Muted Marketing Campaign
Marketing is one of the most important factors in any film’s success, as it is what gets eyes on the movie. Matilda, however, wasn’t as successful when it came to this, as it had a really muted marketing campaign. From viewing Matilda‘s trailers, the movie just didn’t look all that exciting. The trailers and other advertising materials were dull and boring, with them failing to convey the hook of the film. Matilda is quite an odd movie, so it makes sense that the marketing team may have struggled to find the correct angle. However, the angle that Matilda ended up choosing simply didn’t work.
4 Matilda’s Tone Wasn’t As Enticing For Bringing Families To Theaters
Matilda is definitely a family movie, with it primarily being aimed at the demographics of parents and children. However, Matilda is such as weird movie that it struggled to reach these target audiences. Matilda features a really weird tone, as many of the adults and authority figures are incredibly cruel throughout the film. This was present in Matilda‘s marketing, and this strange tone may have turned some parents off from bringing their kids to the film. Matilda simply wasn’t enticing enough to its target demographics, leading to lower ticket sales and ultimately making Matilda a box office bomb.
3 Matilda Had A Lackluster Worldwide Theatrical Release
Although some movies may perform poorly at the domestic box office, oftentimes the worldwide box office can save them, with the film performing well in other countries. However, Matilda didn’t have this benefit, as the film had a lackluster worldwide theatrical release. Matilda was only released in a handful of countries according to IMDb, with it not being released in many areas until the DVD or Blu-ray releases years later. Because of this, Matilda heavily relied on the domestic box office to make up its earnings, a gamble that simply didn’t pay off.
2 Matilda Wasn’t As Popular As Roald Dahl’s Other Books
Matilda is well known for being a Roald Dahl book, but at the time of the movie’s release, it just wasn’t as popular as some of Dahl’s others. Matilda has grown in popularity since the film’s release in 1996, but it still isn’t as beloved as books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, or Fantastic Mr. Fox. Because of this, the Matilda name didn’t do much to draw audiences in, as it’s entirely possible that many viewers didn’t even know that it was adapted from a children’s book.
1 Matilda Followed Up On Another Roald Dahl Box Office Bomb
Matilda may have been a box office failure, but it surprisingly wasn’t the first adaptation of a Roald Dahl book to bomb. Matilda came out only a few months after James and the Giant Peach was released, with the adaptation only making $37.7 million on a budget of $38 million. Some audiences may have made the connection between the two films, deciding to skip Matilda. Matilda is actually one of many Roald Dahl box office bombs, as movies like The Witches, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and The BFG have failed, with Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory even bombing upon its release in 1971.
