Wonka Passes $250 Million At The Box Office, Becoming This Season's Much-Needed Holiday Hit
An unexpected savior of the Christmas season box office has emerged, and his name is Willy Wonka. Indeed, Warner Bros.' prequel "Wonka," which stars Timothée Chalamet as the famed chocolate maker, has become a bigger-than-expected hit through its first two weekends of release. Even against a deluge of competition and as other movies have missed the mark, this musical has managed to become a crowd-pleaser. In short order, it has passed a pretty major milestone as the film has surpassed the $250 million mark worldwide.
Director Paul King's "Wonka" earned $18 million over the holiday weekend and a very solid $10.3 million on Christmas Day to bring its domestic total to $85.8 million, per The Numbers. Meanwhile, the film has done quite well overseas earning $171.3 million to date giving it a grand total of $257.1 million — and counting. Let's not forget that movies released in December tend to have longer legs than usual (assuming audiences respond to them in any way), meaning this is very much just the beginning for WB's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" prequel.
Things looked good for the film when it overperformed with a $39 million opening weekend. But that's just one weekend. The question that lingered was whether or not word of mouth would carry it in the coming weeks. That question has been answered. Even with the release of "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom," "The Iron Claw," the animated "Migration" heading into the weekend, as well as "The Color Purple," "Ferrari," and "The Boys in the Boat" hitting theaters on Christmas Day, the movie has more than held its own. That's very good news for theater chains that are facing an uncertain stretch heading into the new year.
Music to the movie industry's ears
There was serious concern heading into December this year as there was no clear-cut winner to help send 2023 out on a high note. 2021 had "Spider-Man: No Way Home" ($1.9 billion worldwide) and 2022 had "Avatar: The Way of Water" ($2.32 billion worldwide) Sad to say, "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" opened to just $40 million across the four-day holiday stretch. It will come nowhere near matching the highs posted by DC's "Aquaman" ($1.1 billion worldwide) in 2018. Illumination's "Migration" also opened to just $17.8 million during the four-day stretch. Yes, it will probably have legs because it's the only animated, family-friendly game in town, but ticket sales like that aren't going to fill screens across the country.
But "Wonka" has emerged as a serious contender to save the winter box office. WB's "The Color Purple" also had a monster $18 million opening day, meaning that the studio is positioned to save the entire season with a pair of musicals. Will wonders never cease? King's film is based on Roald Dahl's beloved children's book and tells the story of how Willy Wonka became a world-famous chocolate maker. It carries a $125 million budget. A couple of weeks ago, that figure seemed high and risky. Now? It has already proved to be a good investment.
The question now is just how high the movie can fly. If it continues to leg out through January and into February, it should have no problem clearing $400 million worldwide. If things go exceedingly well? $500 million could be within reach. It's not a superhero, nor is it a big animated film from the studio that brought us the Minions. Rather, it is Willy f*****g Wonka who is here to save the day.
"Wonka" is in theaters now.