When “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” hit theaters 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 off-beat 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 histories.
One remake later (a 2005 version, which found Johnny Depp taking over the role from Gene Wilder), and Willy Wonka is back again, only this time it’s Timothée Chalamet wearing the character’s trademark top hat and flaunting his sweet tooth. “Wonka” hits theaters this weekend, opening in more than 4,150 locations. Those include Imax and other premium formats, which could goose ticket sales. As it stands, “Wonka” is expected to generate $35 million in its debut weekend. That would be just under the $41 million that “Dune,” the highest-grossing film that Chalamet has headlined, opened to when it premiered in 2021.
Warner Bros. produced “Wonka,” which carries a production budget of $125 million, not to mention tens of millions more in marketing and distribution spending. The hope is that “Wonka” shows some staying power, enticing family audiences over the holiday period, when it will face off against Illumination and Universal’s “Migration,” which is also trying to lure younger crowds. The good news is that films that screen towards the end of the year as schools go on vacation often stick around in theaters, showing more momentum than movies that bow at other times in the calendar.
“Wonka” already got a jump on its domestic launch. The film opened overseas last week, earning $43.2 million from 37 markets, including the U.K., Spain, Mexico, China and Japan. The film was directed by Paul King, the filmmaker behind “Paddington,” and co-stars Olivia Colman, Keegan-Michael Key, Sally Hawkins and, in a bit of inspired casting, Hugh Grant as an Oompa-Loompa.
