‘Wonka’ Has Sweet $39 Million U.S. Opening Weekend

Timothée Chalamet charmed audiences into theaters over the weekend with his Willy Wonka origin story Wonka to the tune of $39 million in U.s. box office receipts. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the pre-Christmas weekend haul for the film beat expectations and was a good sign for the film’s prospects over the holiday.

The movie also brought in $53.6 million in 77 overseas markets and including early opening screenings in Australia, England and a few other markets the movies total global take of $92.6 million added up to combined receipts of $151.4 million to date for the updated musical take on the beloved 1964 Roald Dahl novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The film directed by Paddington‘s Paul King stars Chalamet as a young Willy Wonka, with a supporting cast including Hugh Grant, Olivia Colman, Keegan-Michael Key, Calah Lane, Paterson Joseph, Matt Lucas, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson and Natasha Rothwell, among others.

Leaning into the lyrical aspect of the story, director King said in September that he was determined not to make the movie a “musical where people are singing dialogue to each other for no discernible reason. I felt like it was more like a movie with songs than a musical.” He also said at the time that Chalamet has a “beautiful singing voice” and that the 27-year-old actor’s vocal skills reminded him of beloved singer Bing Crosby. “There’s quite a range, because it does go from a couple of bigger, showstopper-y sort of things, to moments of real, pure emotion and he can do it all… I’m going to sound like a crazed fan,” King promised.