Film enthusiasts and box office pros were very skeptical when Warner Bros. Discovery first announced plans for a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory prequel, that would provide an origin story for Willy Wonka.
However, the decision is proving to have been the right move for the studio as Wonka has added another $23.7 million to its global box office tally, bringing its total worldwide gross to over $500 million. A final box office sum over $600 million is not out of the realm of possibility.
Wonka has a modest production budget of just $125 million and even when accounting for marketing costs and revenue split with cinema owners, the film has already become very profitable for WB.
"To work on something that will have an uncynical young audience, that was just a big joy," Chalamet previously told Vogue. "That’s why I was drawn to it. In a time and climate of intense political rhetoric, when there’s so much bad news all the time, this is hopefully going to be a piece of chocolate."
Director Paul King is already letting it be known that he's game to develop a sequel.
"It’s set 25 years before the factory — but like you said, there’s 25 years and plenty more things that happen to Willy Wonka," said King in reference to where Wonka ends and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory begins.
Chalamet also added, "Something twisted happens [to Wonka]. I don’t know how we started like this and end there — I don’t know what the story is."
Wonka is directed by King from a script he co-wrote alongside Simon Farnaby. The film is based on the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.
The cast in the film includes Chalamet as Willy Wonka, Calah Lane as Noodle, Keegan-Michael Key as the Police Chief, Hugh Grant as the Oompa-Loompa Lofty, Sally Hawkins as Mrs. Wonka, Paterson Joseph as Arthur Slugworth, Matt Lucas as Gerald Prodnose and Natasha Rothwell as Piper Benz.
Wonka currently has an 83% approval rating on the aggregate review site Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 7.3 out of 10.
WONKA Synopsis:
Based on the extraordinary character at the center of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl’s most iconic children’s book and one of the best-selling children’s books of all time, “Wonka” tells the wondrous story of how the world’s greatest inventor, magician and chocolate-maker became the beloved Willy Wonka we know today.
From Paul King, writer/director of the “Paddington” films comes an intoxicating mix of magic and music, mayhem and emotion, all told with fabulous heart and humor. Starring Timothée Chalamet in the title role, this irresistibly vivid and inventive big screen spectacle will introduce audiences to a young Willy Wonka, chock-full of ideas and determined to change the world one delectable bite at a time—proving that the best things in life begin with a dream, and if you’re lucky enough to meet Willy Wonka, anything is possible.