Among all the Barbie-mania, the trailer for the much-anticipated film “Wonka” has been released. Starring Timothée Chalamet, it tells the origin story of the chocolate maker from Roald Dahl’s famous work, accompanied by his friend, played by Calah Lane. Oh, and Hugh Grant is an Oompa Loompa.
There is always an undercurrent with anything that is an interpretation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or involves Willy Wonka. However, the trailer suggests that we will not quite be at Tim Burton levels of darkness with this film. (You can watch that version of the Dahl classic, starring Johnny Depp, over on Netflix). It is directed by Paul King, who was behind the “Paddington” film.
“Wonka” is set for release in December 2023, with the US launch coming on 15th December. There has been no confirmation if or when it will be made available on streaming services. It is a WarnerBros movie and WarnerBros Discovery boss David Zaslave has recently spoken out about movie streaming. Deadline reported that he told CinemaCon that “We do not believe in streaming movies. He added that “Movies [in theaters] perform substantially better when we bring them to HBO Max than any of the direct-to-streaming movies. We said it nine months ago, and we said it six moths ago. We have never felt stronger about it.”
