Why The Wonka Movie Could Be Great

gamerant.com:

Movie fans are living through an unfortunate age in which any kind of sequel, prequel, or spin-off imaginable is probably in development somewhere. Audiences are starved for original stories in today’s moviegoing climate. That’s not to say that there aren’t any non-franchise gems out there if audiences know where to look for them. This year alone, X, The Northman, and Everything Everywhere All at Once were all visually stunning, delightfully entertaining, wildly original movies that did exciting, brand-new things within the frameworks of well-worn genres. There are always great original movies getting made.

But in a franchise-driven industry, the filmmakers with the most money and resources are the least concerned with originality. Studios keep pumping out movies that feel more like products than films, hoping to capitalize on a familiar pop culture icon as opposed to telling a story that really needs to be told. In some of these cases, there doesn’t seem to be a story to tell at all. Lucasfilm made a Han Solo origin movie to cash in on a recognizable I.P., but it bombed at the box office because audiences already saw Han’s journey from a cold-hearted gunslinger to a noble hero in the original Star Wars trilogy. Sony is stretching its Marvel universe so thin that the studio is working on solo films for every obscure Spider-Man supporting character from Kraven the Hunter to Madame Web to El Muerto.

Timothée Chalamet Shares First Look As Willy Wonka

One upcoming studio tentpole that feels particularly unnecessary is the Wonka movie starring Timothée Chalamet as a young Willy Wonka, set to be released on December 15, 2023. Cashing in on his post-Dune blockbuster cred, Chalamet will be backed up by a star-studded supporting