Co-written and directed by Paul King, Wonka is a musical fantasy film that chronicles the origin story of Willy Wonka, one of the main characters in Roald Dahl’s 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The film focuses on the eponymous character’s early days before he became a world-renowned inventor and chocolatier, a part that the book understandably doesn’t explore in depth.
Wonka premiered at ShowEast on October 24, 2023, before being released in the UK on December 8, 2023. It is slated to come out in the US on December 15, 2023. The film has accumulated mostly positive responses from critics and currently has an 84% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. If you are wondering whether there will be Wonka 2, we got you covered.
Here’s all the Wonka 2 release date information we know so far, and all the details on when it is coming out.
Is there a Wonka 2 release date?
Wonka 2 does not have an official release date, but the possibility can’t be entirely ruled out.
As of December 2023, Wonka 2 hasn’t been greenlit yet. This is expected as the film is yet to be released in the US, and it has been only a few days since its UK release.
Dahl’s book is widely regarded as a classic of English and children’s literature and has been adapted a number of times in various mediums. There have been two big-screen adaptations before Wonka: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) with Johnny Depp as the genius chocolate maker. Wonka’s premise is what sets it apart from these adaptations.
If Wonka 2 is to be developed, the producers will likely have to do yet another adaptation of the source material, and if that ends up being the case, Timothée Chalamet’s performance, which seems fresh and unconventional in Wonka, will garner even more scrutiny than it already has and there will probably be scene-by-scene analyses of his approach in comparison to those of his predecessors.
Wonka ends (spoilers alert for those who haven’t seen the film yet) with the titular character establishing his factory. So, alternatively, a sequel can also be set in the intermediate period between that and Wonka meeting Charlie. Entertainment, like any other industry, is ultimately profit-driven. If Wonka becomes successful, the filmmakers might want Chalamet to pick up the iconic hat and cane once again.
The cast includes Timothée Chalamet as Willy Wonka, Calah Lane as Noodle, Keegan-Michael Key as the Chief-of-Police, Paterson Joseph as Arthur Slugworth, Matt Lucas as Prodnose, Mathew Baynton as Fickelgruber, Sally Hawkins as Willy Wonka’s mother, Rowan Atkinson as Father Julius, Jim Carter as Abacus Crunch, Tom Davis as Bleacher, Olivia Colman as Mrs. Scrubbit, Hugh Grant as Lofty, Natasha Rothwell as Piper Benz, Rich Fulcher as Larry Chucklesworth, Rakhee Thakrar as Lottie Bell, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as Officer Attable, Simon Farnaby as Basil, and more.
The official synopsis for Wonka reads:
“Willy Wonka – chock-full of ideas and determined to change the world one delectable bite at a time – is proof that the best things in life begin with a dream, and if you’re lucky enough to meet Willy Wonka, anything is possible.”
