UPDATE: "Reports suggesting a Wonka 2 delay are entirely false. The Wonka creative team is hard at work on the next chapter.” - a Warner Bros. spokesperson
EARLIER: So, “Wonka 2,” a sequel director Paul King has been trying to make since 2024 and which has a completed script, is on indefinite hold, according to screenwriter Simon Farnaby (via Variety).
Farnaby does admit that while he and King had planned to reunite for another musical adventure, the sequel’s biggest hurdle is reportedly Chalamet, who wants to return but hasn’t decided when or what he wants to do next after establishing himself as a serious actor with two Oscar nominations for “A Complete Unknown” and “Marty Supreme.”
The original plan was to start production this year, but Chalamet is now getting pickier about what comes next for him. He still hasn’t decided, but it won’t be “Wonka 2,” which, in Farnaby’s own words, is “delayed indefinitely.”
“Wonka,” a prequel to Roald Dahl’s 1964 novel “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” starred Chalamet as the eccentric candymaker. The ensemble cast also included Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Colman, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, and Hugh Grant as an Oompa-Loompa.
The film, released in December 2023, was a huge hit for Warner Bros., racking up $632M at the worldwide box office. It had a production budget of around $125M. Reviews were generally positive — 82% on Rotten Tomatoes and 66 on Metacritic. It was audiences, more than critics, who fell for this crowd-pleasing film.
Chalamet’s weighing his options at the moment. Maybe he’ll shoot that James Mangold-directed MotoGP movie, currently at Paramount, which will pay him $25M to star. If I were Chalamet, I would try to stick with Josh Safdie, one of the best directors right now, and star in whatever he does next.
As for King, the director of the first two “Paddington” movies, he’s attached to a Labubu film — if you can believe it — but that project still appears to be in the early stages of development. He’s actually set to shoot a Tom Holland-starring Fred Astaire biopic in January.
A story about an ICE officer barricaded against a "furious mob" isn't exactly subtle. That said, Trejo is 82, and it's not hard to believe that he’s totally aloof and wouldn't know who Ben Shapiro is.