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Candy is dandy, but is chocolate back on the menu? This winter, the magic of Roald Dahl’s confectionary classic will be back in theaters with the Warner Bros. prequel Wonka. Promising to show the early life and times of Timothée Chalamet’s young candy challenger, a brand-new candy under the Wonka name is being brought to market to sweeten the deal for fans of pure imagination. As such a fan, I’m excited for not only the first new Wonka candy in a while, but what this could mean for bringing back my beloved Wonka Bars. Timothee Chalamet in Wonka Introducing Wonka Magic Hat Gummies First, here’s what we do know: candy maker Ferrara, the current owners of the Wonka candy brand, has created a new treat just in time to hype up Wonka. Announcing Wonka Magic Hat Gummies, the company plans to have this sweet surprise on the market in the very near future. Starting September 1, they’ll be exclusively available at Walmart locations, with a nationwide rollout debuting on September 28. Further stoking anticipation for this new offering is a statement from Greg Guidotti, the Chief Marketing Officer at Ferrara Candy Co. Explaining the process for bringing a new Wonka candy to shelves, Guidotti expanded on this idea thusly: " For decades, the name ‘Wonka’ has been synonymous with sweet treats that bring joy, wonder, and the magic of childhood to people of all ages. And with the anticipation of the new Wonka movie, we are excited to help bring the film to life through the return of the Wonka brand to sugar confections with the new Magic Hat Gummies. With this innovation, our goal is to create fun and imaginative experiences through candy that offers fans a little bit of magic with every bite. " Four flavors await the bold and brave who want to taste Willy Wonka’s newest candy: Strawberry Watermelon, Raspberry Grape, Orange Strawberry and Magic Berries. I'm not sure what that last flavor is supposed to taste like, but if it’s the one where you end up defying the laws of gravity, I’m in! Although I’m more sold on the resurrection of Wonka’s candy brand, and it’s time we talk about the potential for sweet successors. Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory What Could This Mean For The Return Of Wonka Bars? As if falling in love with the Wonka trailer hadn’t already put me into a metaphorical sugar rush, there’s now going to be a product that can give me an actual blast of sucrose. At the same time, I was incredibly curious about why Wonka Magic Hat Gummies would be the product to relaunch this once active candy brand. This is, after all, the prequel to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which was based off of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. No matter where you go, all roads lead to refined cacao beans, so I asked the marketing department at Ferrara if there were any plans for a future resurrection of the Wonka Bar, or even the equally magical Scrumdiddlyumptious Bar. The response to that question can be read below: …while consumers may expect more candy innovations from Wonka in the future, no specific products have been announced yet. So the bad news is that there’s no announcement that any of the chocolate treats Wonka eventually paves the way for are coming back. Which is a bummer, as the Wonka Bar is not only the treat that actually got Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory made in the first place, but they were also in production around the release of the remake, 2005’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. " While I'd agree that Tim Burton's take got some things right, one of them was definitely allowing the candy in question to continue to exist. Unfortunately, the good times would eventually come to an end, as the Wonka candies were discontinued in the US around 2010. " However, the good news is that the answer above, as well as the previous statement from Chief Marketing Officer Greg Guidotti, haven't closed the door for future treats. Which is great, because while it was a simple graham cracker encased in chocolate, the Wonka Bar was as delicious as I'd expected from both the book and original movie. It's a simple pleasure I happen to miss, and it feels like that golden ticket to a golden day might lie ahead. For now, we just don’t know what other experiences lie down the line. If Wonka Magic Hat Gummies are enough of a hit, maybe we’ll get some more treats revealed closer to Wonka’s December 15th release on the 2023 movie release schedule. Also, don't forget to check out your local Walmart starting September 1st, and keep an eye out for the national rollout on September 28th.

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He's bringing sexy back. Steven Soderbergh has helmed a variety of iconic movies, including the original Ocean’s trilogy, Erin Brockovich, Sex, Lies and Videotapes, and, of course, two of the three Magic Mike movies. This week will see the release of his third film in the male stripper saga, Magic Mike’s Last Dance, which is already generating a lot of buzz. The first two films were sensations, performing well critically and commercially. While the films feature several scenes from the strip clubs with all kinds of sexy dancing, they don’t feature many actual sex scenes, and now the famed director is detailing why. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, the Contagion director discussed his approach to directing and how he chooses his projects. He also talked about his approach to the Magic Mike films and what plot elements are important to him when approaching a controversial subject matter. When asked why the Magic Mike franchise doesn’t feature many sex scenes, Soderbergh explained: " Everybody has a different attitude about [sex]. To me, it’s about sexy. It’s not about the sex, per se, and whether the movie is explicit. There’s no nudity in Out of Sight. There’s no nudity in Magic Mike’s Last Dance. There’s not even a thong. And yet, it was our desire to make a sexy movie. " Clearly the visuals and suggestive nature of the film is more interesting to the director than sex scenes. Based on much of his previous work, Soderbergh has much more of an interest in building tension and chemistry than he does choreographing explicit sequences. There is a lot more to the Magic Mike films than the subject matter suggests, and the director seems more keen on building character and a story than titillating scenes. The filmmaker further detailed his approach, saying: " What’s sexy is intimacy and genuine emotion. Something that feels alive, and electric, and has the potential for vulnerability. That can be sexy. You’re letting somebody inside your heart and that’s scary. You can get hurt. The really radical thing to do right now, it seems to me, as opposed to showing the beginning of the relationship when there’s all this heat and light because of the attraction --that’s easy — is to show people who’ve been married for twenty years for whom that’s still true. Where you don’t even make a big deal of it. They’ve been together for twenty years and they’re still into each other in that way. " Soderbergh seems to take his characters and his stories seriously. While there is clearly a sexy story at the center, much of the plot of the Magic Mike films centers around the world around the stripper shows and the blue collar nature of the characters involved. The director truly gets great performances out of the cast, and while Matthew McConaughey was snubbed from the awards circuit for the first film, many considered his performance to be Oscar-worthy. Magic Mike’s Last Dance will likely be no different, especially with Selma Hayek in the mix this time around. Basic plot details of Magic Mike’s Last Dance have already been revealed. The third installment is once again centered around Channing Tatum’s Mike Lane, who returns to stripping after a bad business deal goes wrong. He goes to London, where a socialite offers him an opportunity to assemble a new roster of dancers for a show. The film looks even steamier and sexier than the first two Magic Mike movies, so there is a lot to anticipate. Along with Soderbergh, the film marks the return of screenwriter Reid Carolin, who wrote and produced the other films in the franchise. Magic Mike’s Last Dance hits theaters on February 10th, just in time for Valentine’s Day. Fans of the franchise looking to revisit Magic Mike and Magic Mike XXL ahead of the last film’s release can do so now with an HBO Max subscription. For more information on other films hitting theaters this year, make sure to check out CinemaBlend’s 2023 movie release schedule.

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