The film stars Timothée Chalamet as the title character and features Calah Lane, Keegan-Michael Key, Paterson Joseph, Matt Lucas, Mathew Baynton, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Jim Carter, Olivia Colman, and Hugh Grant.

Filming began in the United Kingdom in September, at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in Watford, as well as Oxford, Lyme Regis, Bath, St Albans, and at the Rivoli Ballroom in Crofton Park, London.

[8] Willy Wonka, a young aspiring magician, inventor, and chocolatier, arrives at the Galéries Gourmet with dreams of establishing his own chocolate shop.

He introduces "hoverchocs", chocolates that make people fly, but rival chocolatiers Arthur Slugworth, Gerald Prodnose, and Felix Fickelgruber have his earnings confiscated by the police for selling without a store.

Unable to pay the contract's exorbitant fees, Wonka is forced to work in Scrubbitt's launderette alongside Noodle and fellow captives Abacus Crunch, Piper Benz, Larry Chucklesworth, and Lottie Bell.

Revealing that his passion for chocolate stems from his late mother, Wonka believes that his creations are being stolen by an enigmatic little orange man, and Noodle agrees to teach him how to read.

To produce his signature chocolate, Wonka and Noodle sneak into the zoo to milk a giraffe named Abigail, inspiring a romance between Scrubbitt and Bleacher as a distraction.

Wonka and the launderette workers embark on a chocolate-selling crusade to alleviate their debts, using the city's storm drains to evade the police.

After escaping from the boat and rescuing Noodle, Wonka and his friends devise a strategy to obtain the Cartel's incriminating account book.

In October 2016, Warner Bros. Pictures reacquired the rights to the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964) character Willy Wonka from Roald Dahl's estate, with a film in development from producers David Heyman and Michael Siegel.

[19] The announcement of the project was met with a mostly negative response as it came less than two months following the death of Gene Wilder, who portrayed Willy Wonka in the 1971 film adaptation.

[28] After being approached by Heyman to direct, King felt the urge to revisit Dahl's book and was surprised: "I realised that it's also an amazing emotional masterpiece.

[27] He also stated Slugworth's chocolate cartel as being a "savage indictment of capitalism", wanting each character to represent a different aspect of greed, whereas Wonka had epitomized generosity and dedicated his life in creating his factory.

[35][36] He did not consider the film a musical, but "a movie with songs", noting that the Oompa Loompas sang in the book and Dahl's usage of poetry.

[29] King offered the actor the part with no audition after seeing his high school performances on YouTube, which proved his vocal and dancing skills.

[40] Chalamet grew up as a fan of both the 1971 and 2005 films and wanted to portray the character in a different way from Wilder and Johnny Depp: "It was a total inverse of that Willy Wonka with a demented look in his eye that we all know.

"[41] King likened Chalamet's Wonka to "a Charlie Chaplin innocent character, almost like the immigrant tramp figure coming to this world for the first time, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and completely naive – with this childlike wonder but none of the street smarts that he's going to develop over the next 25 years.

[42][43] In September 2021, it was announced Keegan-Michael Key, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Olivia Colman, and Jim Carter were among the newest additions to the cast, with Farnaby also set for a role.

[45] Filming took place at historic Lyme Regis and Bath,[7][49][50] at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in Watford,[51][52] and the Rivoli Ballroom in Brockley, London.

[57][58] Neil Hannon, lead singer of the Divine Comedy, wrote the film's original songs,[45] and the score was composed by Joby Talbot.

[62][63] On November 20, the film had a special premiere in Tokyo, with a red carpet attended by director Paul King, producers David Heyman and Alexandra Derbyshire, and stars Timothée Chalamet and Hugh Grant.

The image was posted on Chalamet's Instagram with the caption "The suspense is terrible, I hope it will last," a reference to a famous Wilder line in the 1971 film,[68][69] which itself is a quote from the 1895 play The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde.

[78] The film was also promoted during the 97th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 23, 2023, in the form of a float called "The Deliciously Delectable World of Wonka.

[4][5] Deadline Hollywood calculated the film's net profit as $182 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participations, and other costs; box office grosses and home media revenues placed it sixth on their list of 2023's "Most Valuable Blockbusters".

The website's consensus reads: "With director Paul King at the helm and some solid new songs at the ready, the warmly old-fashioned Wonka puts a suitably sweet spin on the classic character while still leaving some room for the source material's darker undertones.

[89] Rotten Tomatoes found the initial reactions on social media to be mostly positive, with some reviewers criticizing the script and others praising Chalamet's performance and the film's presentation.

[101] CultureSonar classed it as one of the best films of the year: "What many wrote off as an airless cash-in is actually one of the finest interpretations of Roald Dahl’s character to date.

"[102] In a more negative review, David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter found the film "sickly sweet and hopelessly twee" with the character of Willy Wonka "neutered, stripped of any edge that might have made him interesting" and that "a number of gifted actors are either misused or wasted".

"[114] In November 2024, while attending the Paddington in Peru red carpet, Paul King confirmed that development on a sequel was underway, stating “We’re very early.