Netflix Acquires the Roald Dahl Story Company
Netflix made more headlines yesterday with news that it had acquired the Roald Dahl Story company, and with it a catalogue of Roald Dahl adaptations and the ability for new adaptations to premiere as Netflix originals. No financial details were disclosed, but it’s presumed to be one of Netflix’s biggest purchases thus far. They had a previous arrangement with the company, signed in 2018, which gave it the animated rights to 16 Dahl titles, a deal allegedly in the nine-figure territory at the time. Thanks to that deal, Taika Waititi and Phil Johnson are working on a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory episodic while Sony and Working Title are crafting an adaptation of the Broadway musical adaptation of Matilda. However, looking at the commercial track record of previous Dahl adaptations, this could be another case of “IP for the sake of IP” as well as the hope that a streaming giant can successfully exploit IP where conventional studios have failed.
