Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has frequently been adapted for other media, including games, radio, the screen,[48] and stage, most often as plays or musicals for children – often titled Willy Wonka or Willy Wonka, Jr. and almost always featuring musical numbers by all the main characters (Wonka, Charlie, Grandpa Joe, Violet, Veruca, etc.); many of the songs are revised versions from the 1971 film.

Film

The book was first made into a feature film as a musical, titled Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), directed by Mel Stuart, produced by David L. Wolper, and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, character actor Jack Albertson as Grandpa Joe, and Peter Ostrum as Charlie Bucket, with music by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley. Dahl was credited for writing the screenplay, but David Seltzer was brought in by Stuart and Wolper to make changes against Dahl's wishes, leaving his original adaptation, in one critic's opinion, "scarcely detectable".[49] Amongst other things, Dahl was unhappy with the foregrounding of Wonka over Charlie, and disliked the musical score. Because of this, Dahl disowned the film.[49] The film had an estimated budget of $2.9 million but grossed only $4 million and was considered a box-office disappointment, though it received positive reviews from critics. Home video and DVD sales, as well as repeated television airings, resulted in the film subsequently becoming a cult classic.[50] Concurrently with the 1971 film, the Quaker Oats Company introduced a line of candies whose marketing uses the book's characters and imagery.[51]

Warner Bros. and the Dahl estate reached an agreement in 1998 to produce another film version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with the Dahl family receiving total artistic control. The project languished in development hell until Tim Burton signed on to direct in 2003. The film, titled Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, starred Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka. It was released in 2005 to positive reviews and massive box office returns, becoming the eighth-highest-grossing film of the year.[52]

In October 2016, Variety reported that Warner Bros. had acquired the rights to the Willy Wonka character from the Roald Dahl Estate and would be planning a new film centered on the eccentric character with David Heyman producing.[53] In February 2018, Paul King entered final negotiations to direct the film.[54] In May 2021, it was reported that the film would be a musical titled Wonka, with Timothée Chalamet playing a younger version of the titular character in an origin story.[55] King was confirmed as director and co-writer along with comedian Simon Farnaby; the film was released globally in December 2023.[56]

Other adaptations

• In 1983, the BBC produced an adaptation for Radio 4. Titled Charlie, it aired in seven episodes between 6 February and 20 March.[57]
• In 1985, the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory video game was released for the ZX Spectrum by developer Soft Options and publisher Hill MacGibbon.
• A video game, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, based on Burton's adaptation, was released on 11 July 2005.
• On 1 April 2006, the British theme park Alton Towers opened a family attraction themed around the story. The ride featured a boat section, where guests travel around the chocolate factory in bright pink boats on a chocolate river. In the final stage of the ride, guests enter one of two glass elevators, where they join Willy Wonka as they travel around the factory, eventually shooting up and out through the glass roof.[58] Running for nine years, the ride was closed for good at the end of the 2015 season.
• The Estate of Roald Dahl sanctioned an operatic adaptation called The Golden Ticket. It was written by American composer Peter Ash and British librettist Donald Sturrock. The Golden Ticket has completely original music and was commissioned by American Lyric Theater, Lawrence Edelson (producing artistic director), and Felicity Dahl. The opera received its world premiere at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis on 13 June 2010, in a co-production with American Lyric Theater and Wexford Festival Opera.[59]

• A musical based on the novel, titled Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, premiered at the West End's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in May 2013 and officially opened on 25 June.[60] The show was directed by Sam Mendes, with new songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, and stars Douglas Hodge as Willy Wonka.[60] The production broke records for weekly ticket sales.[61]
• In July 2017, an animated film Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was released in which the titular cat and mouse were put into the story of the 1971 film.
• On 27 November 2018, Netflix was revealed to be developing an "animated series event" based on Roald Dahl's books, which will include a television series based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the novel's sequel Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.[62][63] On 5 March 2020, it was reported that Taika Waititi will write, direct, and executive-produce both the series and a spin-off animated series focused on the Oompa Loompas.[64]
• In 2021, Melbourne based comedians Big Big Big released a six part podcast called The Candyman that satirically presents events at the chocolate factory in a true crime genre.[65]
• An unlicensed attraction, "Willy’s Chocolate Experience", opened on 24 February 2024 in Glasgow, and closed within a day. The event was advertised using highly misleading AI-generated artwork, promising features such as "an enchanted garden, an Imagination Lab, a Twilight Tunnel, and captivating entertainment", though instead contained a low-effort mock-up of a chocolate factory in a mostly empty warehouse.[66] The event spawned many internet memes, and featured factory tours offered by several actors playing Willy Wonka, that involved a story in which Wonka would defeat an "evil chocolate maker who lives in the walls" called "The Unknown". According to actor Paul Connell, who portrayed Willy Wonka in the tours, his script contained "15 pages of AI-generated gibberish".[67] Despite the high entrance fee and promised chocolate theme of the event, guests were only given a single jellybean and a cup of lemonade, and the misleading advertisements led to the police being called to the event shortly prior to it being shut down.[68]

Animated series

On 27 November 2018, Netflix and The Roald Dahl Story Company jointly announced that Netflix would be producing an animated series based on Dahl's books, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The BFG, The Twits, and other titles. Production commenced on the first of the Netflix Dahl animated series in 2019.[69] On 5 March 2020, Variety announced that Taika Waititi was partnering with Netflix on a pair of animated series — one based on the world of 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and another based on the Oompa-Loompa characters. “The shows will retain the quintessential spirit and tone of the original story while building out the world and characters far beyond the pages of the Dahl book for the very first time,” Netflix said.[70] On 23 February 2022, Mikros Animation revealed that they would be producing a new collaboration with Netflix. The collaboration was announced as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The long-format animated event series is based on the 1964 novel and is written, directed and executive produced by Waititi.[71][72]