Do We Really Need Another “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” Remake?

Gene Wilder in
Gene Wilder in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"

So far there have been two film adaptations of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Warner Bros. is making a third. That’s right—there will be three films about the world’s most famous chocolatier. But this one is a bit different, it’s a prequel about the upbringing of Willy Wonka and Timothée Chalamet will be playing Wonka.

Titled Wonka, this one promises to be different than Dahl’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the films that center around a boy named Charlie Bucket who, after winning a golden ticket, gets to tour the infamous chocolate factory run by Willy Wonka. Because this is Wonka’s origin story, Bucket and the other children won’t be in it.

Oh and did we mention, Chalamet will be singing and dancing? That’s pretty exciting—right?

The previous films, 1971 film adaption titled Willy Wonky and the Chocolate Factory and 2005’s reboot Charlie and the Chocolate Factory had Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp playing Wonka.

Wonka is set to start production in September and to debut on March 17, 2023, so we have some time to come to terms with the fact that a third Wonka film is being made. With Chalamet in it, it can’t be too bad.