Willy Wonka Reboot Unstuck In The Warner Bros. Pipeline
Thursday, October 20, 2016 at 1:00PM If a major Hollywood studio acquires the legal rights to the key role in a beloved, recently deceased performer's legacy, is its tone still deaf? Warner Bros. will learn the answer to this question in due time as it develops a new Willy Wonka film after nearly a year of deal-closing with the Roald Dahl estate to own the cinematic future of the literary creation. While the intellectual property lays in Dahl's estate, it's fair to say that Wonka's iconography may belong more readily to the late Gene Wilder's beloved performance in the children's classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
Variety reports that Warner Bros. plans to pop the whimsical chocolatier into his own standalone film (sans bratty children) but has made sure to point out that this won't necessarily be an origin story. This will mark the third effort to bring Wonka to the screen - lest we forget the ill-advised bob on Johnny Depp's iteration - but the first time he will serve as central protagonist. While we've seen quicker reboots of the Spider-Man variety - this, a decade; that, three - time isn't the issue with this one but the question of whether or not a studio should tamper at all with such precious goods. Is it fair game to revive the Wonka brand or should Warner Bros. let him rest in peace?
Reader Comments (10)
Young Wonka? If I were suggesting a third take on the original book (though, why would you want that? Wilder Wonka is the best possible film you could get out of that material), I'd probably want to go with Fassbender. But for this concept? Nicholas Hoult would be top of list, even if I'm kind of ambivalent about the idea on paper.
I just can't imagine who'd want this to happen. Who sits at home pleading for a Wonka movie? Not that the two made were perfect but the Burton effort was so bad and hasn't aged into some cult effort like some of his other movies, and who honestly wants to try this again with Gene Wilder's specter looming in the distance? The more Wonka's in his own movie, the worse the movie is. For all the crazy, unusual recipes in Wonka's products that work wonderfully, this just seems like a recipe for disaster.
I've never read the book, so I'm not sure which version is closest to the source material, but I actually enjoyed Burton's story deviations from the original version. Agreed that Wilder's Wonka is one of cinema's greatest treasures and Depp's, well, not so much, but the Willy and his father backstory, and his first decision not to allow Charlie's family to move in were interesting moves. I think there's room for a less Burtonish take on the material - in fact I'd probably prefer a television version where the story takes precedent over the effects.
I mean, in theory, I'm not opposed to the idea. But I'm old enough and wise enough to know that this isn't going to end well.
Hey Hollywood: Stop underestimating audiences! Not that in love with the original (let's forget there was a remake) Chocolate Factory movie so I don't have a "don't mess with the original feeling" but do we really need another Willy Wonka movie?
What do you wanna bet they'll go with someone like Jared Leto? Or imagine if they went in a Sherlock Holmes style direction and made an action hero out of him somehow, with Robert Downey Jr or Jude Law in the part. Hard to imagine any fresh worthwhile way for this story to be told, so I'm just seeing a cynical cash grab here.
Get your hands off my childhood.
NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOO!!!!! Go screw around with something that didn't turn out perfectly the first time and leave the classics alone!
A Wonka origin movie? They already forgot "Pan"?
What do you wanna bet they'll go with someone like Jared Leto? Or imagine if they went in a Sherlock Holmes style direction and made an action hero out of him somehow, with Robert Downey Jr or Jude Law in the part. Hard to imagine any fresh worthwhile way for this story to be told, so I'm just seeing a cynical cash grab here.