Roald Dahl’s bestselling The Twits, published in 1980, is being adapted into an animated feature film set to stream on Netflix in 2025. The upcoming animated movie, which just released its first official photo, marks the first time Dahl’s The Twits has been adapted for the screen.
The film’s director, writer, and producer Phil Johnston (Oscar nominee, Ralph Breaks the Internet) has a special connection to the source material.
“I’ve always been attracted to reprehensible characters,” explained Johnston. “I don’t know what this says about me, and I really don’t want to look into it. Point is, The Twits was my favorite book when I was a kid. I love the Twits and their terrible tricks. I love that they lack self-awareness and personal hygiene and any inkling of human decency. And I love this movie because it reminds us that twits like the Twits, whose default emotions are anger and vengeance, can’t be allowed to win in our world.”
Katie Shanahan and Todd Demong are co-directors, with Meg Favreau co-writing the screenplay with Johnston. The Boss Baby‘s Jellyfish Pictures is in charge of the animation.
Netflix also has an animated adaptation of Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in the works. And a live-action short film based on Dahl’s short story “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” is set to premiere on Netflix on September 27, 2023. Wes Anderson adapted Dahl’s story and directed the short film starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Ralph Fiennes.
The Twits Plot, Courtesy of Netflix:
“Mr. and Mrs. Twit are the meanest, smelliest, nastiest people in the world who also happen to own and operate the most disgusting, most dangerous, most idiotic amusement park in the world, Twitlandia. But when the Twits rise to power in their town, two brave orphans and a family of magical animals are forced to become as tricky as the Twits in order to save the city.
A hysterically funny, wild ride of a film (chock-full of the Twits’ beloved tricks–from the Wormy Spaghetti to the Dreaded Shrinks), The Twits is also a story for our times, about the never-ending battle between cruelty and empathy.”
