Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory

About

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 musical fantasy film based on Roald Dahl's 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that tells the story of Charlie Bucket, a schoolboy from a poor family, as he goes on a tour of the famous Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, with four other children from around the world, after winning a "Golden Ticket" in the lottery.

History

Directed by Mel Stuart and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, the eccentric owner of a whimsical chocolate factory, the idea for a film adaptation for Roald Dahl's 1964 children's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory came when Stuart's then 10-year-old daughter read the book and asked her father to make it into a film with producer David L. Wolper. Both Stuart and Wolper agreed that it should be a children's musical and that Roald Dahl should write the screenplay. In the screenwriting process, the title of the film was changed to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, due to the studio's concerns that the name "Charlie," which was then often used to refer to Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces at the height of the Vietnam War, would discourage Americans from going to see the film. On April 30th, 1970, principal photography began in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany, the primary shooting location, and ended on November 19th. The film was released on June 30th, 1971.

2005 Adaptation

In the early 2000s, Warner Bros. began seeking to produce another feature film adaptation of Robert Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In 2003, after years of casting and revisions in the screenwriting process, the studio announced that Tim Burton would direct the film based on an original screenplay written by Gwyn Lurie, with Johnny Depp starring as Willy Wonka and Freddie Highmore as Charlie Bucket. The film was released on July 15th, 2005.

Reception

Upon its initial release, the film was met with disappointing reception at the box office, earning just over $2.1 million on its opening weekend. It was the fifty-third highest-grossing film of the year. However, by the mid-1980s, the film had seen a notable resurgence in popularity through TV broadcasts and home video sales, soon establishing itself as a family-friendly cult classic. In 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Critical Acclaims

Despite its lack of commercial success, the film was met with positive reviews from critics, with Roger Ebert comparing it to The Wizard of Oz. In 1972, the film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score, and Wilder was nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, but lost both to Fiddler on the Roof. In 2003, Entertainment Weekly ranked it 25th in the "Top 50 Cult Movies" of all time. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an 89% with the consensus stating "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is strange yet comforting, full of narrative detours that don't always work but express the film's uniqueness."^[1] The film currently holds a 7.8/10 rating from 104,055 users on the user generated film review website the Internet Movie Database (IMDB).^[2]

Fandom

Wonkadotcom, a fansite dedicated to the film containing quotes, music lyrics, and a transcript of the film, has been online as early as February 1st, 2001.^[3] On April 29th, 2004 ,YTMND user Kess created a site containing a black and white portrait of Gene Wilder as Wonka and an audio clip of Wonka loudly proclaiming " So you get NOTHING! You LOSE! Good DAY sir."^[4] On April 18th, 2005, an entry for Wonka Wash was created on Urban Dictionary. ^[5]

Related Memes

"Pure Imagination"

"Pure Imagination" is a song written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley specifically for the musical film to be sung by the character of Willy Wonka (portrayed by Gene Wilder). In the decades after the release of the film, the song inspired dozens of covers by recording artists across multiple generations, including Smoking Popes, Mariah Carey, Maroon 5, Fiona Apple, Josh Groban, Coldplay and Karmin, among others.

You get NOTHING! You LOSE! Good DAY sir!

"You get NOTHING! You LOSE! Good DAY sir!" is a quote from near the end of the film where Willy Wonka loudly berates Charlie for stealing Fizzy Lifting Drinks. As mentioned above, the earliest instance was a YTMND site created on April 29, 2004.

Condescending Wonka

Condescending Wonka is an advice animal image macro series that features a screen capture of Gene wilder as Willy Wonka with captions that are usually condescending or sarcastic in nature.

Hating Grandpa Joe

Hating Grandpa Joe is a tongue-in-cheek fan theory surrounding the 1971 fantasy musical film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory that supposedly aims to expose Grandpa Joe as a vile human being and the true villain of the film.

Search Interest

External References