The director of Wonka has explained why it is a musical. The new movie, which was helmed by Paddington‘s Paul King, is a prequel to the classic 1971 Roald Dahl adaptation Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory starring Timothée Chalamet as a younger version of Gene Wilder’s eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka. Wonka features music from the original movie by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley including “Pure Imagination” and the “Oompa Loompa” song, along with original numbers from The Divine Comedy lead singer Neil Hannon.
BFI recently sat down with Paul King in honor of the Wonka release. When explaining why the movie is a musical, King shared that they wanted to make “a companion piece” to the original movie, to which music was very important, as it was to Dahl’s works in general. King said it would be unimaginable to have an “Oompa-Loompa come on and not hear the Oompa-Loompa music,” which is “what God intended.” Read his full quote below:
Well, because you can! It’s like being given the keys to a magic kingdom. We really wanted to make this as a companion piece to the 1971 movie. Obviously, music is at the heart of that, and it’s how they express Gene Wilder’s innermost hopes and dreams with ‘Pure Imagination’. And, there’s the Oompa-Loompa song. It would seem crazy to me to have an Oompa-Loompa come on and not hear the Oompa-Loompa music. That’s what God intended. We were inspired by their choices. Dahl used music in a huge amount of what he did. In his books there’s always songs or verses and poetry that’s supposed to be a song, and the Oompa-Loompas are singing all the way through it. I think he’s such a precise rhythmical writer that music sits very comfortably with his work, whether it’s in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It was clearly very important to him. We had the Anthony Newley, Leslie Bricusse standards that are so beloved, but we wanted to add our own as well. We were lucky enough to get Neil Hannon, who’s been one of my absolute heroes since a teenager and those early Divine Comedy albums. I think he’s a great, great songwriter. He’s funny, and the songs are emotional, which is a very rare combination. He’s a contemporary songwriter, for sure. But I feel he also has one foot in the past. That always sounds like an insult, but there’s a timeless quality to what he does. I think he was able to channel the spirit of those songs and build his own world, which is what we were all trying to do.
Hollywood Has a Complicated Relationship With Movie Musicals
It makes sense that Paul King would have an explanation prepared for the Wonka musical numbers. Domestic and worldwide audiences can frequently be openly hostile to movie musicals, and in fact quite a few recent entries in the genre have flopped in theaters, including Dear Evan Hansen, In the Heights, and Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. This may be what has led to advertising for the upcoming musicals The Color Purple and Mean Girls largely obscuring the fact that they contain musical numbers.
In spite of this, the viewing public also has the ability to make modern movie musicals into huge hits. This occurred with 2008’s Mamma Mia! (based on the West End jukebox musical of the same name featuring the songs of ABBA) and its 2018 sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, both of which grossed hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide. This can even be the case with an original musical such as 2018’s The Greatest Showman, which starred Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum and was a sleeper hit, eventually earning $434.9 million by the end of its run.
The Wonka box office has already proven the movie to be in the latter camp, as it has earned $150 million worldwide by the end of its domestic opening weekend (after opening in some international markets the week before). However, this was not guaranteed to be the case, which explains some of the movie’s own skittish, musical-averse marketing. Whether its success is due to audiences’ mercurial approach to the genre or the fact that the previous Willy Wonka movies already set a precedent by featuring musical elements remains unknown.
Wonka
Wonka is a prequel film to Roald Dahl’s classic novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and follows the origins of the legendary candy maker. From his first encounter with the Oompa Loompas to founding his deliciously magnificent headquarters, Wonka explores the character in a new light. Timothee Chalamet assumes the role of Willy Wonka himself.
- Release Date
- December 15, 2023
- Director
- Paul King
- Cast
- Sally Hawkins , Olivia Colman , Keegan-Michael Key , Rowan Atkinson , Timothee Chalamet , Jim Carter
- Genres
- Family , Adventure , Comedy
- Writers
- Paul King , Simon Farnaby
- Budget
- $125 million
- Studio(s)
- Warner Bros. Pictures
- Distributor(s)
- Warner Bros. Pictures
