Wonka 2 has been quietly moving in the right direction for a while now, and the latest update is the clearest sign yet that Warner Bros. is actually ready to make it happen.
Wonka 2 is reportedly set to begin production
According to a new report from scooper DanielRPK, the sequel is eyeing an August production start, which would make it the most concrete timeline the project has had since Paul King confirmed back in November 2024 that the script was already half written.
King co-wrote the original with Simon Farnaby and is expected to return to direct, with Farnaby and Simon Stephenson both said to be involved in the script once again. The August start makes a 2027 release window not just plausible but likely.
Warner Bros. still has December 17, 2027, marked on its calendar as a slot for an untitled family film, and most people tracking the project believe that date belongs to Wonka 2.
The studio does have The Hunt for Gollum slotted into a different December 2027 window, so the calendar is getting fairly busy, but the family film placeholder has remained on the books long enough that it is hard to read it as anything else at this point.
For Chalamet, the timing also works. Coming off Marty Supreme, for which he received an Oscar nomination, the actor currently has no officially confirmed next project.
A James Mangold-directed MotoGP film at Paramount has been mentioned in connection with him, but that one is still loose with nothing locked in.
Returning to Wonka, which grossed over $634 million globally against a $125 million budget and became one of 2023’s biggest family hits, would be about as comfortable a follow-up as he could ask for. King himself has been clear about his interest.
In an interview with ScreenRant, he said he would “love to make another Willy Wonka film if we could find the right story” and pointed to the thirty-year gap between the events of Wonka and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as territory worth exploring.
It sounds like that story has been found. No official announcement has been made yet, though with CinemaCon happening right now, Warner Bros. has the perfect stage to make things official.
