Wonka really is a musical!

[SisterGeorge]

Posted: 12/17/23 at 6:51pm

Despite the studio's best efforts to keep it a secret, it turns out that the new Wonka, which opened this weekend at No. 1, really is a musical with a delightful, very proper musical theater- sounding score. In addition to  the Bricusse/Newley "Pure Imagination" and "Oompa Loompa Song" from the '71 Gene Wilder film, there are a dozen or so terrific new songs by Neil Hannon (the front man for the seriously wonderful Irish pop group The Divine Comedy), which are not only very entertainment but also move the plot along as they should. In a better world, "A World of Your Own" would become a major pop hit. The movie kind of feels like a warm and witty blend of Oliver!, Mary Poppins, Doctor Doolittle (in a good way) and the first season of  Schmigadoon, with an adorable central performance by Timothée Chalamet  as Wonka and delicious musical comedy turns by Olivia Colman, Keegan Michael-Key, Rowan Atkinson, and Hugh Grant. The scene design is fantastical and the choreography very Oona White.  I hope it continues to do well into the new year. 

 

Updated On: 12/18/23 at 06:51 PM

[BeingAlive44Ever]

Posted: 12/17/23 at 9:49pm

This is very exciting indeed and I am looking forward now to seeing that movie 

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 12/17/23 at 9:52pm

I spent the whole movie, just wondering when the announcement for the stage version was coming. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 12/17/23 at 10:00pm

I wanted to like it more than I did...the songs are a little too simplistic, Chalamet didn't do it for me, and the visual effects are pretty poor. Enjoyed some of the story elements, performances (Olivia Colman & Tom Davis' scenery-chewing, Jim Carter, Hugh Grant, the little girl), and a few of the musical sequences. It made me long for Tim Minchin's gift of wit and melody.

Christopher Gattelli choreographed it and Sam Davis did the dance music arrangements. The Music Producer is named Charlie Rosen, but I don't know if it's THAT Charlie Rosen.

Updated On: 12/17/23 at 10:00 PM

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 12/17/23 at 10:17pm

This has to be better than last year’s “Spirited,” right? A lot of the music was pleasant, but the plot set a pretty low bar for other movie musicals to clear.

 

Updated On: 12/17/23 at 10:17 PM

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 12/17/23 at 10:20pm

EDSOSLO858 said: "This has to be better than last year’s “Spirited,” right? A lot of the music was pleasant, but the plot set a pretty low bar for other movie musicals to clear."

This is CITIZEN KANE compared to SPIRITED.

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 12/18/23 at 2:24am

As reported by Anthony D'Alessandro in his Box Office Updates at Deadline.com:

Friday: Warner Bros’ ''Wonka'' is looking at a $12 million-$13 million Friday, including those $3.5M previews from last night, on its way to a $35M+ start at the domestic box office at 4,203 locations. That’s a respectable opening for this time of year when moviegoers are still sidelined by holiday activities, and it’s a solid start for a feature musical, currently ahead of the three-day total of 2008’s ''Mamma Mia!'' ($27.7M) and ''Hairspray'' ($27.8M).

In fact, after such musical missteps as ''In the Heights'' ($11.5M), ''West Side Story'' ($10.5M) and ''Dear Evan Hansen'' ($7.4M), ''Wonka'' is a definite comeback for feature musicals.

Saturday: ''Wonka'' is doing what it’s supposed to do this weekend for a mid-December, pre-Christmas family title: It has posted an A- CinemaScore on its way to an improved $37M-$38M, after a higher than expected previews/Friday of $14.4M. Some industry estimates have ''Wonka'' reaching a $40M opening. Dive deep into ''Wonka'' demos and you find that many are sweet on the film. Female ticket buyers under the age of 18 (11% of the audience) gave it an A+ and those under 25 (36%) gave it an A. ...

Again — a great result for a musical after the genre’s post-Covid funk, and the studio intentionally didn’t sell ''Wonka'' as such in trailers. Why? Apparently, test-audience focus groups generally hate musicals and the only way to get people into the theater with one is to trick ’em. If they get in the door and wind up enjoying themselves, then business is solid for a studio on a musical.

Updated On: 12/18/23 at 02:24 AM

[binau]

Posted: 12/18/23 at 2:59am

I was surprised at how musical it was because if I recall they don’t sing at all in the trailer? Weird. Anyway, I kind of love that we have this new ‘world’ in the style of a traditional Broadway musical open up. I’m on board with all of the cast and I find it fun/silly/heart warming. I do find it a little bit simple though - even the songs - yes they are ‘catchy’ in theory but it’s treading a fine line between songs that are catchy because they are magical and songs that are catchy because they have this kind of cheap musical parody feeling to them…overall it works for me JUST and I find ‘a world of your own’ to be the most magical new song, even though thematically is this not similar to the idea of ‘pure imagination?’  

It feels like this is mostly a family/children’s movie so within that construct I also am more forgiving. 
 

I don’t find myself NEEDING a stage version - I’m happy with the movie and the cast recording. But it would be interesting to see what a Broadway-talented singer on the Wonka tracks might do for them. 

[bear88]

Posted: 12/18/23 at 3:47am

Well, they fooled me. I had no idea it was a musical. My wife still doesn’t really want to see it. 

This whole ‘bait and switch’ strategy feels weird. I know they’re doing it for Mean Girls too. If I really hated movie musicals, or just wasn’t in the mood for one, I would be rather irritated if I suddenly found myself watching a musical.

I guess the strange part is this: If people hate movie musicals so much, why are film studios making them anyway and then going to elaborate lengths to trick people? 

I was wondering why Wonka even existed, other than what looked like an origin story. Now I know. The original film has a few famous songs, so perhaps this is a unique case where filmgoers won’t be irritated.

[Impeach2017]

Posted: 12/18/23 at 6:43am

Shhh... ixnay on the usicalmay.  Whatever they're doing is working!

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/18/23 at 7:57am

Impeach2017 said: "Shhh... ixnay on the usicalmay. Whatever they're doing is working!"

 How have so many of you escaped all the articles about the hiding of the movie musical (Wonka, Mean Girls AND The Color Purple) (and a bajillion posts on other sites.

 

[inception]

Posted: 12/18/23 at 8:09am

For a family film, I thought it was fine, but a bit weak. It reminded me a bit of Scorses's film Hugo.  For someone who has so much charisma in perfume ads or SNL skits - the Troye Sivan skit was so good - I felt Chalamet fell flat here.  His singing is serviceable at best. 

Maybe I was spoiled by Barbie this year, a film I watched twice in theatres.  The production design on Wonka is good.  But  the plot kind of felt like a remix of other, better children's stories - without ever really getting the edge from the best of Roald Dahl's works. In Barbie Greta Gerwig gave audiences something totally unexpected with real heart at the center of its plastic body.

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 12/18/23 at 8:30am

One of the aforementioned articles.

Hollywood Is Hiding Its Musicals

With movie musicals slumping, Hollywood has resorted to disguising song-and-dance films—from ‘Mean Girls’ to ‘Wonka’—with deceptively song-free trailers

https://www.theringer.com/2023/12/15/24003017/hollywood-hiding-musicals-wonka-the-color-purple-mean-girls-trailers

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 12/18/23 at 8:54am

The Wonka soundtrack makes the film sound gloomy. Several sad and wistful ballads, some mean villain songs and one peppy song about chocolate. Critics say it's cheerful though so my impression must be mistaken.

Updated On: 12/18/23 at 08:54 AM

[windowwaving]

Posted: 12/18/23 at 9:25am

I remember being so shocked at the opening of La La Land. I knew there were dance sequences, but did not expect an actual musical at all. I was pleasantly surprised.

[darquegk]

Posted: 12/18/23 at 12:46pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "EDSOSLO858 said: "This has to be better than last year’s “Spirited,” right? A lot of the music was pleasant, but the plot set a pretty low bar for other movie musicals to clear."

This is CITIZEN KANE compared to SPIRITED."

I found 90% of Spirited pretty forgettable, but the “Good Afternoon” song has such a strong humorous conceit that it overcame anything else. It would have been an inescapable Internet meme if it were in Family Guy or The Simpsons instead… or even SNL.

[SisterGeorge]

Posted: 12/18/23 at 1:40pm

MrsSallyAdams said: "The Wonkasoundtrack makes the film sound gloomy. Several sad and wistful ballads, some mean villain songs and one peppy song about chocolate. Critics say it's cheerful though so my impression must be mistaken."

Like most good children's stories it does have its darkish and slightly scary elements, but the supporting characters provide a lot of laughs, and ultimately the movie ends up being cheery and heartwarming. I wanted to hug it when it was over. 

[Robbie2]

Posted: 12/18/23 at 7:47pm

yea but we already had Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Shamain Whitman and Jack Obrien and that was terrible and failed so no thank you and this is no better! Timothee C eh...... he'snot that great in this so come on people what's all the buzz cuz he's dating Kylie Jenner????

Updated On: 12/18/23 at 07:47 PM

[bruzson]

Posted: 12/18/23 at 11:05pm

It was…ok. But it really suffers from poor lyric writing and hum drum music, which should be the elements that make a musical sing. Glad to embrace something new and always happy for a new musical but this just doesn’t rise above so-so 

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 12/19/23 at 2:47am

I saw this and was looking forward to it. But, musical or not, I just feel that the whole thing felt…well…flat. And, I can’t for the life of me figure out why it did. But, I didn’t know it was a musical going in but even then, that didn’t get in the way of me finding the whole thing to be just so so at best. 

I think that the whole bait and switch angle that studios are going for with movie musicals to be flat out stupid. I totally understand that movie musicals, as of late, haven’t done well at the box office. But, for a studio to sweep that aspect under the rug doesn’t help matters. Now, take Mean Girls for example, a movie with a large following that people don’t realize that the current remake is an adaptation of the show. Now, if someone didn’t know that and went in only to walk out passed that it was a musical could and most likely would cause backlash on social media.

[Alex M]

Posted: 12/19/23 at 11:53am

Personally, I loved it. I was smiling for the entire movie. This is the HIT show that needs to go into the Broadway with a director that can do spectacle.

[John Adams]

Posted: 12/21/23 at 10:33pm

I dunno...

The film with Gene Wilder as Wonka has never even come close to being eclipsed by any of its successors. IMO, Wilder's *completely* en-pointe performance has never been eclipsed. He captured Rhold Dahl's dark yet compassionate style to a T.

Movies that followed have never captured that same lightening in a bottle. Does no one see that the song "Pure Imagination"  appears in every successive incarnation of this story?

IMO, the only thing that allows breathing space for any of its successors is that today's generation of Veronica Salts are too lazy to take the time to view Wilde's performance before rushing to receive their "me, me, me" gratifications re: their personal opinions.

How ironic is that (in regards to the themes portrayed Dahl's Willy Wonka)?

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 12/21/23 at 10:59pm

'' IMO, Wilder's *completely* en-pointe performance has never been eclipsed. He captured Rhold Dahl's dark yet compassionate style to a T.''

Just for the record, Roald Dahl disowned the 1971 movie of ''Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.'' He was ''infuriated'' with the plot deviations, and called the music ''saccharine, sappy and sentimental.'' Dahl also thought Gene Wilder lacked the edge to play Wonka, and thought Spike Milligan, an Irish comedian, writer and actor, should've played him.

As a result, Dahl refused any more versions to be made of ''Willy Wonka'' during his lifetime, as well as an adaptation of its sequel, ''Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.''

Updated On: 12/21/23 at 10:59 PM

[John Adams]

Posted: 12/21/23 at 11:19pm

Wayman_Wong said: "'Just for the record, Roald Dahl disowned the 1971 movie of ''Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.'' He was ''infuriated'' with the plot deviations, and called the music ''sappy, saccharine and sentimental.'' Dahl also thought Gene Wilder lacked the edge to play Wonka, and thought Spike Milligan, an Irish comedian, writer and actor, should've played him."

All may be true (especially Dahl's disownment of the '71 movie, its plot deviations, and music).

His "infuriated" reaction to the plot deviations (IMO) would be legitimate, as it's his original work and any deviation from his original conception would be open to debate.

Regardless of his opinion re: the music being: "sappy, saccharine and sentimental,"  I don't agree, nor disagree. Still, the fact remains that "Pure Imagination" appears in every succession.

RE: Dahl also thought Gene Wilder lacked the edge to play Wonka, and thought Spike Milligan, an Irish comedian, writer and actor, should've played him."

OK... but now we're into what happens in EVERY movie casting situation...

There will ALWAYS be those who some were considered to be "perfect" for the role  ..and there will also be those who were actually cast who proved themselves to be worthy of the choice.

 

Updated On: 12/21/23 at 11:19 PM

[TheQuibbler]

Posted: 12/22/23 at 11:16am

Robbie2 said: "Timothee C eh...... he'snot that great in this so come on people what's all the buzz cuz he's dating Kylie Jenner????"

I mean, Chalamet is one of the youngest Best Actor nominees for the Academy Award, has consistently been working with some of the buzziest filmmakers nearly his whole career and has already headlined a blockbuster franchise with Dune. He's not just famous for dating a Jenner. 

I thought the movie was pretty charming. Chalamet is fine in it, more successful when he leans into sincerity than quirkiness (quirky isn't really his thing), but the real stars are the characters actors that fill out the rest of the cast. Colman, especially, is really fun. Paul King has a way over wrapping up sentimentality and whimsy in the least cloying way possible; his movies feel like a warm hug. 

Hiding singing in musical trailers is no new trend, I remember the groans and exclamations of surprise at the beginning of Sweeney Todd back in 2007.