Who would have guessed that 2024 would be the year of Willy Wonka? But here we are, reporting on a third Wonka-based project. This time, its a reality show for Netflix, somehow based on the beloved children’s book by Roald Dahl.
The streamer struck gold with their acquisition of the Roald Dahl Story Company. The deal has already produced the Oscar-winning Wes Anderson short film “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.” But this next project has a lot of people scratching their heads since no one knows how Netflix will turn Wonka into a competition.
Netflix Doesn’t Even Know
Netflix will be holding a “bake-off,” which means it’s soliciting production companies to pitch ideas. The frontrunners for these pitches are “American Idol” producer Fremantle and Wall to Wall Media. As well as the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned company behind “Who Do You Think You Are?” But there are no details on what ideas these production companies may have submitted.
The obvious pitch would be just to follow the book and have a bunch of kids tour a dangerous factory to get picked off one by one. With the sole survivor being granted a candy factory by an eccentric owner/host. But there are A LOT of laws preventing that.
We’d like to suggest a show where an adult has to take a group of toddlers to Glasgow’s infamous Willy’s Chocolate Experience. If they can keep the kids entertained in that AI-generated hellscape for an hour, they win a candy factory.
We’ll keep you posted on details about Netflix’s Willy Wonka reality competition as they become available.
