Netflix And Taika Waititi Are Making Making Two Animated Charlie And The Chocolate Factory Shows

Netflix is spending a lot of money on new animated movies and shows, and the streaming giant continues to attract some big names. Guillermo Del Toro is working on a new version of Pinocchio for the company, and now Thor: Ragnarok and Jo Jo Rabbit director Taika Waititi is set to take on another classic children's book--Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Netflix has announced that Waititi will write, direct, and executively produce two new animated series based on Roald Dahl's much-loved 1964 book. The first will be "based on the world and characters of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," while the second will focus on the Oompa-Loompas, the diminutive creatures who work in Willy Wonka's factory.

The shows will be the first results of a deal between Netflix and Roald Dahl Story Company, which controls the adapted output of the author's classic work. As Deadline notes, there are also plans to adapt stories such as Matilda, The BFG, and The Twits. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has been adapted twice as a live-action movies, in 1971 and 2005, but this will be the first animated version.

Del Toro's Pinocchio movie was announced in 2018. It doesn't currently have a release date but last month it was reported that the voicecast will include Ewan McGregor and Tilda Swinton. Netflix also plans to launch its own animation studio, which will enable it to make projects in-house without having to outsource much of the technical work to existing animation companies.

Waititi's next movie will be the Marvel sequel Thor: Love and Thunder, which releases in 2021. The director was also set to helm the long-in-development live-action version of the manga classic Akira, but recently admitted that he was now unlikely to make it.