Another delicious tale is on the way. Warner Brothers is developing a new Willy Wonka movie with a highly-skilled producer.
Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts producer David Heyman is developing a new movie with Warner Brothers, who last released a new Willy Wonka movie in 2005 starring Johnny Depp. WB recently acquired rights to the story and characters from the Roald Dahl estate.
According to Variety, “the film will not be an origin tale, but a standalone movie focused on Wonka and his early adventures,” which would make the film branch out into other areas besides the story of the chocolate maker and Charlie.
“It’s unknown who from the original book series, other than Wonka, will be involved in the project. If the reboot is a hit, it seems likely that characters like Charlie could be seen in future installments of a possible franchise,” Variety reports.
“The studio has been trying to lock down rights from the Dahl Estate since the beginning of the year and finally closed a deal earlier this fall.”
The reporter behind the story shared this additional tidbit on Twitter:
Couldn't get this confirmed but got the feeling Dahl may have written unpublished material that could be used to help build new world
— Justin Kroll (@krolljvar) October 19, 2016
If true, this is an interesting development that could help ease the concerns of people who don’t want WB to retread or risk hurting Dahl’s vision.
Heyman is uniquely situated to produce a new Willy Wonka movie given his success with bringing J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World to the big screen. We imagine WB is happy with his work on next month’s Fantastic Beasts if they wish to collaborate with him again on a big, magical property like Wonka.
Gene Wilder, who played Willy Wonka in the original movie in 1971, died in September.