Reception
Willy Wonka was released on June 30, 1971, and was the fifty-third highest grossing film of the year in the U.S., earning approximately $4 million (on a $2.9 million budget). The film received positive reviews from critics such as Roger Ebert and Wilder later earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance. Seeing no significant financial advantage, Paramount Pictures decided against renewing its distribution deal for the film when it expired seven years later. Quaker Oats sold its share of the rights to Warner Bros. (whose parent company, Warner Communications, had acquired David L. Wolper's production company), for $500,000 in 1977. WB's ownership of the film helped them get the rights to film a new version of the book in 2005. The film currently holds an 89% 'Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
By the mid-1980s, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory had experienced a spike in popularity thanks in large part to repeated television broadcasts and home video sales. Following a 25th anniversary theatrical re-release in 1996, it was released on DVD the next year, allowing it to reach a new generation of viewers. The film was released as a remastered special edition on DVD and VHS in 2001 to commemorate the film's 30th anniversary. In 2003, Entertainment Weekly ranked it 25th in the "Top 50 Cult Movies" of all time.
Willy Wonka was ranked #74 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments for the "scary tunnel" scene and, in fact, the whole movie.
American Film Institute Lists
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs - Nominated
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
- The Candy Man - Nominated
- AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals - Nominated
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers - Nominated
- AFI's 10 Top 10 - Nominated Fantasy Film
Read more about this topic: Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory
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“To aim to convert a man by miracles is a profanation of the soul. A true conversion, a true Christ, is now, as always, to be made by the reception of beautiful sentiments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
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