Hot off the heels of the Oscar-winning success of his latest film, filmmaker Taika Waititi already has his hands full with his next major project. The Hollywood Reporter reports Waititi has just signed on to write, direct, and executive produce two animated series adaptations of the classic Roald Dahl novel Charlie the the Chocolate Factory. You know, because just one cartoon series based on the world of Willy Wonka from the director of Jojo Rabbit would certainly not be enough.
The first of Waititi’s two planned series will be more or less a new reimagining of the classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory story. By that, we can probably expect for a young boy to find a Golden Ticket to explore the factory owned by famous candy-maker Willy Wonka and his loyal team of Oompa Loompas. Speaking of the Oompa Loompas, they’ll be the stars of Waititi’s second Willy Wonka cartoon, which is said to offer a “wholly original take” on their story. And let’s be honest, who among us hasn’t spent our entire lifetimes dreaming of an Oompa Loompa cartoon series?
“I grew up reading Dahl stories and lived large parts of my young life in those magical worlds, so finding just the right creative partner to bring Willy Wonka, Charlie and the Oompa-Loompas to life in animation was a daunting task … until Taika walked into the room,” explains Netflix VP of Original Animation, Melissa Cobb. “Then it was really obvious. If Dahl had created a character of a filmmaker to adapt his work, I’m pretty sure he would have created Taika.”
There’s no word yet on when we can expect to see either of these animated shows premiering on Netflix. In the meantime, you can pay a quick revisit to the original film adaptation by checking out the movie clip below.
Synopsis: A sweet boy from a poor family dreams of finding one of five golden tickets hidden inside chocolate bar wrappers which will admit him to the eccentric and reclusive Willy Wonka’s magical factory. One after another, tickets are discovered by ghastly children – but will the lad find the last remaining one and have all his dreams come true?
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