10 Movies Based On Books That Should've NEVER Been Made
3. Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory
The first film adaptation of Roald Dahl's 1964 book Charlie And The Chocolate Factory was released in to cinemas in 1971. Starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, a chocolate factory owner who leaves five golden tickets for children to pay a visit and learn various essential lessons within, it was a creepy narrative to say the least. These "lessons" included being drowned in a chocolate river or eating gum that caused you to blow up, for example.
Not only was the original concept for his factory workers (named the Oompa Loompas) based on the African Slave Trade, thereby painting them orange for the movie instead, but Dahl's family were outraged by the final feature.
Wilder's performance was branded borderline creepy and the movie too controversial for high reviews. This forced the production company to change the name to Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory instead, to establish some distance from the source material.
In 2005, a new film was produced, this time with Johnny Depp and a new set of songs for the workers alongside him. This version was much more well received and deserved the original title.