The original Candy Man, Willy Wonka, comes to theaters right before Christmas, bringing scrumdiddlyumptious sweets, jaunty tunes, and cheer to the holiday season! Early tracking for the Paul King-directed origin story is here, with the Quorum predicting a $20M-$23M opening. This estimate is early, and predictions for Wonka‘s pre-Christmas box office launch could increase the closer we get to showtime.
Promotion for Wonka is doing an admirable job of getting the film in front of potential audience members, with two trailers, a GQ cover story, and a guest spot for Timothée Chalamet (Willy Wonka) scheduled for November 11, 2023. The trailers enticed 31M and 9M viewers, respectively, with audiences eager to meet Chalamet’s young chocolatier and Hugh Grant’s wise-cracking Oompa-Loompa.
What’s sugary sweet and goes down like a snozzberry smoothie? The reintroduction of Willy Wonka into the cultural zeitgeist, of course! The world-famous mischief maker is readying his ingenious recipes to make a name for himself, and he’s bringing a few friends along for the wild ride! 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.
Wonka focuses on a young Willy Wonka and how he met the Oompa-Loompas on one of his earliest adventures. The prequel about the peculiar chocolatier features an A-list cast, with Olivia Colman (Secret Invasion, The Favourite), Hugh Grant (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Notting Hill), Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water, Blue Jasmine), Keegan-Michael Key (The Super Mario Bros. Movie, The Predator), and Rowan Atkinson (Johnny English, The Lion King, Bean) starring alongside Chalamet. Ellie White, Matt Lucas, Jim Carter, Rich Fulcher, Mathew Baynton, Peterson Joseph, Natasha Rothwell, Simon Farnaby, Tracy Ifeachor, and more also join the cast. Neil Hannon of the band The Divine Comedy is in charge of writing original songs for the film.
Do you think Wonka will perform sweetly at the pre-Christmas box office? Do you believe Charlamet can deliver a performance as memorable as Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka from the Mel Stuart-directed original? Let us know what you think in the comments below.