Warner Bros. just scored a golden ticket. The studio has acquired rights to Roald Dahl’s iconic character Willy Wonka and is developing a new movie based on the enigmatic candy baron with Harry Potter producer David Heyman, EW has confirmed.
Screenwriter Simon Rich (The Secret Life of Pets) is tackling the script. According to Variety, which first reported the news, the film will focus on Wonka and his early adventures.
Wonka previously appeared on the big screen played by Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) and Johnny Depp in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005). Both movies were adapted from the first of Dahl’s two books featuring Wonka, the other being Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.
Heyman and Warner Bros. had tremendous success bringing beloved book characters to the multiplex with the Harry Potter films, and they’re currently trying to recreate that magic with the spinoff series Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which recently swelled to a planned five installments. If moviegoers are still sweet on Wonka, they might well see more of him.
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