In the upcoming ‘Wonka’, the story of the beloved chocolatier penned originally by Roald Dahl in 1964, goes back to the character’s beginnings. And with Chalamet as Willy Wonka, this is going to be a joyride simply not to be missed.
This Holiday season we get a special treat — Timothée Chalamet and chocolate, all wrapped in the pretty ribbons of Wonka, the upcoming Warner Bros. musical fantasy film directed by Paul King, who co-wrote the screenplay with Simon Farnaby. Wonka tells the origin story of Willy Wonka, a character in Roald Dahl's 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Wonka will hit theaters on December 15th, 2023, just in time to put a smile on our collective audience faces. I mean, Chalamet may have some hunky competition from Austin Butler these days, but he’s still the king of the red carpet, and the big fantasy screen. We have missed them at premieres with the SAG-AFTRA strikes ongoing and without end in sight, but at least we can catch them at our local cinema. Because Wonka looks like the kind of colorful, over the top extravaganza that needs a big screen to be fully enjoyed.
Warner Bros. have just released trailer #2 and it’s true that the UK city of Bath, where some of the project was filmed in 2021, were transformed into a winter wonderland.
A bit of a little known fact about the original film, which starred the magnificent Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. The Quaker Oats Company financed the 1971 film with US$3 million and originally created a chocolate bar in time to publicize the 1971 film. Later, the brand was sold to Nestle, and discontinued the Wonka chocolate bars soon after.
More recently, in 2005, a remake of the 1971 film was released starring Johnny Depp, directed by Tim Burton, following a long development stage which started back in 1991, and even pondered Martin Scorsese at the helm. It was also distributed by Warner Bros. in association with Village Roadshow Pictures.
Wonka tells the wondrous story of how the world’s greatest inventor, magician and chocolate-maker became the beloved Willy Wonka we know today.
This from Warner Bros.: “From Paul King, the writer/director of the Paddington films, David Heyman, producer of Harry Potter, Gravity, Fantastic Beasts as well as Paddington, and producers Alexandra Derbyshire (the Paddington films, Jurassic World: Dominion) and Luke Kelly (Roald Dahl’s The Witches) and writer Simon Farnaby, 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. Starring alongside Chalamet are Calah Lane, Keegan-Michael Key, Paterson Joseph, Matt Lucas, Mathew Baynton, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Jim Carter, with Olivia Colman and Hugh Grant. The film also stars Natasha Rothwell, Rich Fulcher, Rakhee Thakrar, Tom Davis and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith.
Warner Bros. Pictures Presents, in Association with Village Roadshow Pictures, a Heyday Films Production, a Paul King Confection, Wonka is distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures, used with permission.