“Wonka,” a fantasy musical starring Timothée Chalamet as the eccentric chocolatier, charmed in its box office debut, collecting $39 million over the weekend.
It’s a sweet start, as long as the $125 million-budgeted family film has momentum around the holidays. The good news for Warner Bros. is that December releases rarely generate huge opening weekends but tend to stick around on the big screen and show staying power through the new year. To that end, it’s promising that “Wonka” landed an “A-” CinemaScore from audiences. Critics have been kind as well, bestowing “Wonka” with an 83% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s a sign the PG film will be able to endure against competition from upcoming releases such as Universal and Illumination’s animated “Migration,” Warner’s musical adaptation of “The Color Purple” and the DC Comics sequel “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.”
“‘Wonka’ has the right tone for the holidays and momentum is very good,” says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “Critics’ reviews and audience scores are strong, and the genre performs well overseas.”
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