Are We Supposed To Be Excited For A Willy Wonka Prequel Movie?
Warner Bros will be releasing Wonka on March 17, 2023, a prequel to Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which focuses on the candy architect Willy Wonka’s younger days before having his confection empire.
The movie has been in development for roughly four years. David Heyman was always attached as producer, and Paddington director Paul King is helming. It’s early days for this project and it won’t be shooting while UK is in lockdown. The hope is for a September shoot. No casting yet.
'Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory' is one of my favorite movies maybe ever. It's a 97/100 for me (#45 all-time) and is arguably the most electric performance from Gene Wilder in his incredible career. It's a must-watch if ever there was one!
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The 2005 Tim Burton remake with Johnny Depp was sub-par. That currently sits at a 23/100 in my list, sitting at #3510 overall. Yuck. You know that currently sits at an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes? Fucking disgraceful.
If you know me you know that I'm far from one of those violently anti-remake people. If there is a remake or reboot idea you have for a franchise where you can add something unique while getting at least close to the level in quality, then why not. From a consumer standpoint, we basically all go into movies like that with the expectation that it is going to suck, so we can only be pleasantly surprised.
That said, there are a few properties that I think you shouldn't really touch, and Wonka is one of them. I just don't see a situation where you can capture this lightning in the bottle again. Now, this is a prequel instead of a straight remake and it has a solid director at the helm. Paul King did amazing with the Paddington movies, and they both have a vibe-adjacent to the Wonka-verse as far as being fantastical british-ey type movies.
Again, I just don't see a world where this movie ends up meeting the standard of the original movie, so why try? It's only going to piss people off and a decent chunk of people will go into it expecting it to fail. Instead, make a campy version of the sequel to the book, Charlie and the Great Glass elevator. I really recommend reading the synopsis to it because it is a WILD ride.