Wonka Whizzes Past Johnny Depp’s Chocolate Factory With $500 Million At The Global Box Office

Outside of this specific franchise, “Wonka” now stands as one of the highest-grossing movies released in 2023. It currently occupies the No. 9 spot for the year globally, just above Pixar’s “Elemental” ($496 million) and just below “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning” ($567 million). That’s mighty impressive for a family-friendly musical that was released during a very crowded Christmas season. Heck, this wasn’t even the only musical in theaters as “The Color Purple” arrived on Christmas Day. But Chalamet’s star power and King’s ability to craft a crowd-pleaser proved to be an incredible combination.

Theater owners were quite nervous heading into December, as things looked bleak. “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” was clearly not going to make what its predecessor made (and it hasn’t), and there was no clear-cut blockbuster to bring out moviegoers like “Avatar: The Way of Water” did at the end of 2022 and early 2023. Remarkably, it’s Chalamet’s Willy Wonka who has emerged as the savior of the season. Given that “Wonka” only dropped 40% in its most recent weekend, it’s still got gas in the tank as well. $600 million worldwide is not out of the question depending on how things shake out in the coming weeks.

“Wonka” is in theaters now.