‘Wonka’ Enchants Box Office With $39 Million Debut

Wonka got off to a sweet start at the domestic box office this weekend with an estimated $39 million debut.

The musical fantasy starring Timothée Chalamet as the eccentric chocolate maker played in 4,203 locations across the U.S. and Canada, for a per theater average of $9,279, according to box office tracking company Comscore.

Based on characters in British author Roald Dahl’s 1964 children’s novel, the Warner Bros. film takes place before the events of the original 1971 movie Charlie & The Chocolate Factory.

The main cast in the new movie includes Rowan Atkinson, Tom Davis, Sally Hawkins, Jim Carter, Olivia Colman, Matt Lucas, Simon Farnaby, and Keegan-Michael Key. The film was directed by Paul King.

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Chalamet, 27, is the third actor to play Willy Wonka on screen after Gene Wilder in the original film and Johnny Depp in the 2005 remake.

The latest version received an “A-” CinemaScore from audiences, and has a 84 percent positive rating on RottenTomatoes.

The film cost a reported $125 million to produce and has already made back its production budget, thanks to a strong performance abroad. It opened overseas last weekend and to date has earned a global total of $151.4 million.

Elsewhere at the domestic box office, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes came in second place with $5.4 million in its fifth weekend in theaters, Comscore reported.

Third place went to last week’s leader, The Boy and the Heron, which earned $5.1 million this weekend.

Godzilla Minus One was fourth with $4.8 million in its third week and Trolls Band Together rounded out the top 5 with $4 million in its fifth weekend.