When Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was released in 1971, it barely broke even. A decade later, as VCRs became ubiquitous, the adaptation of Roald Dahl’s children’s novel “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” finally found an audience eager to embrace its offbeat look at a bizarre chocolatier and the “Golden Ticket” contest he launches. The advent of home entertainment turned a box office also-ran into a beloved part of many people’s childhood viewing history.
One remake later (a 2005 version in which Johnny Depp took over from Gene Wilder), Willy Wonka is back, only this time it’s Timothée Chalamet wearing the character’s trademark top hat and flaunting his sweet tooth. “Wonka” opens this weekend in more than 4,150 locations. This includes Imax and other premium formats, which could boost ticket sales. As it stands, “Wonka” is expected to make $35 million in its debut weekend. That would be just shy of the $41 million that “Dune,” the highest-grossing film starring Chalamet, opened to when it premiered in 2021.
Warner Bros. produced “Wonka,” which has a production budget of $125 million, not to mention tens of millions more in marketing and distribution costs. The hope is that “Wonka” will have some staying power and attract family audiences over the Christmas period, when it will be competing with “Illumination” and Universal’s “Migration”, which are also trying to attract younger audiences. The good news is that films released towards the end of the year, when schools are on holiday, often stay in cinemas and show more momentum than films released at other times in the calendar.
“Wonka” has already had a head start on its domestic release. The film opened overseas last week, earning $43.2 million from 37 markets, including the UK, Spain, Mexico, China and Japan. The film was directed by Paul King, the filmmaker behind “Paddington”, and stars Olivia Colman, Keegan-Michael Key, Sally Hawkins and, in a bit of inspired casting, Hugh Grant as an Oompa-Loompa.
