A glitzy franchise in which Matilda, the BFG and Willy Wonka all star threatens Dahl’s legacy and Netflix’s reputation
At this stage, it is abundantly clear that not everyone can pull off a shared universe. Marvel’s success has been followed up by a flurry of awkward misfires. The DC Extended Universe culminated in two versions of the same terrible Justice League movie. Universal’s Dark Universe consisted of one bad Mummy film and the least comfortable photoshoot in living memory. Star Wars is floundering. Even Sony’s Spider-Man universe, which shares a chunk of its DNA with Marvel, is almost guaranteed to take a knock when its Jared Leto vampire film comes out next year.
The shared universe is a very, very hard thing to make a success of. And that’s why Netflix’s splashy announcement that it has snapped up Roald Dahl’s entire catalogue should give you pause for thought.