After a little over one month in theaters, the new Wonka movie is waltzing onto digital platforms tomorrow.
Directed by Paul King, this musical fantasy family movie cast Timothée Chalamet as the new Willy Wonka, the famous fictional chocolate factory owner from Roald Dahl’s 1964 children’s novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. But while we all know the story of Charlie Bucket and the winning golden ticket, the 2023 Wonka movie details the origins of this charming, chocolate-loving man.
Despite initial skepticism directed at the film’s marketing—Hugh Grant has a Oompa Loompa still haunts my nightmares—Wonka performed well at the box office. Following the film’s December 15 release, the movie managed to rake in a grand total of $535 million at the global box office. Now that’s what I call a sweet box office treat. Critics, too found the film to be surprisingly OK—at least, according the movie’s 82 percent critical rating on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. So it may come as a surprise to some that Warner Bros. would push the film to digital after only a month and a half in theaters.
But that’s par for the course for most major studios these days. Even box office hits are getting released on “premium” video-on-demand—which is the industry term for charging movie theater prices for an earlier release on digital platforms—after a month in theaters or less. (WB recently released Oscar hopeful The Color Purple on digital after just three weeks in theaters.) Even Barbie, the most successful film of 2023, came to PVOD after 13 weeks in theaters.
Here’s what you should know about how to watch Wonka online, and when to expect to see Wonka streaming on Max.
Wonka will be released on digital platforms on Tuesday, January 30. Beginning tomorrow, you’ll be able to buy and rent digitally on Amazon Prime, Google Play, Apple TV, Vudu, and more. The price may vary depending on which platform you use to purchase the film, but on Amazon Prime the movie will cost $24.99 to buy, and $19.99 to rent.
The Wonka digital release will include bonus content, including the following featurettes: “Unwrapping Wonka: Paul King’s Vision,” The Whimsical Music of Wonka,” “Welcome to Wonka Land,” “Hats Off to Wonka,” and “Wonka’s Chocolatier .”
Wonka will also be released on 4k UHD, DVD, and Blu-Ray on February 27, and will include all the same special features.
Wonka will be available to rent on digital platforms like Amazon Prime, Google Play, Apple TV, Vudu, and more, beginning on January 30. The movie will cost $19.99 to rent, and you’ll have 48 hours to watch the movie after hitting “play.”
The Wonka streaming release date on Max has not yet been announced, but we know that Wonka will be on Max eventually because it is a Warner Bros. movie, and Max is the streaming service owned by Warner Bros. All of the new WB theatrical movies end up streaming on Max, though the wait period has varied by title. The Flash, for example, was released on PVOD about five weeks after opening in theaters and began streaming on Max about five weeks after it was released on PVOD. If Wonka follows a similar release pattern, you can expect to see Wonka on Max around early March 2024—likely sometime on or after the film’s February 27 DVD release date.
That said, this is all speculation. There is not yet an official Wonka Max release date. If you want to watch Wonka right away, you can buy or rent the movie online starting tomorrow.