Wonka sells two million golden tickets across Australia
More than two million Australians have bought a ticket, golden or otherwise, to see Wonka, the third cinematic incarnation of Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s book/dark allegorical text.
Last weekend saw 79,000 tickets sold to Wonka, tipping it over the two-million mark in its seventh week in cinemas.
To date, the film has raked in $36.6 million at the Australian box office. While this makes it an unqualified success under any normal metric, these numbers actually pale in comparison to those of three recent massive box office successes in Australia.
Avatar: The Way Of Water debuted December 15, 2022 and swiftly became the third highest-grossing movie of all time in Australia, with box office receipts of over $93 million.
The path back to the cinema was laid six months prior, when Top Gun: Maverick opened in a record 343 cinemas, and also drew over $93 million — it’s $93,332,040 takings were just pipped by Avatar: The Way of Water’s $93,670,000.
Then, we had Barbie.
The film actually earned less than the previous two — insert your own wage equality joke here — drawing $85,740,000, but was by far the box office success of 2023, smashing the $43 million its dance partner Oppenheimer brought in, and jumping over The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s $51.8 million.
But Wonka is well on its way to Australian box office glory.
For other comparison, the current #50 in Australian all-time box office takings is The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which took $39.5 million.
Mario’s $51.8 million takings in Australia saw him double-jump into the all-time Top 20. Wonka’s success may rest firmly on how long its cinematic run is.
One final comparison: When pitted against the two prior Wonka films, the Timothee Chalamet version dwarfs its predecessors.
The 1971 Gene Wilder-as-Wonka original took in just $44,106 at the Australian box office — the film wasn’t originally a success anywhere in the world, taking just US$4 million on a US$3 million budget, and finding its evergreen success through subsequent home video releases and TV screenings.
The 2005 remake starring Johnny Depp, which aimed to be darker than the Wilder original and failed precisely because of this, was a box office success, bringing in $18,299,580.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was the fifth-biggest film of 2005 in Australia, behind monsters like Star Wars: Episode III, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Meet The Fockers, and Madagascar.
“This fresh take on a beloved classic has showcased its multigenerational appeal,” Paul MacGregor, director of strategy and marketing at Val Morgan told Mumbrella, “captivating audiences from all key demographics.”
Wonka’s closest competitor at the current 2024 box office is Sydney Sweeney rom-com Anyone But You, which has sold over a million tickets, and taken $18.2 million at the box office after five weeks in the cinema – roughly half of Wonka’s golden ticket haul.
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