Skip to content
Bramble

Entertainment

Netflix's Wonka's The Golden Ticket posts lowest audience score of any Wonka adaptation

Netflix's reality series Wonka's The Golden Ticket has an 11% critics' score and a low audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, the lowest audience score of any major Willy Wonka adaptation, despite a strong Netflix viewing debut.

2 outlets · 0L · 2C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: Screen Rant
Image: Collider

1 / 2

The story, neutrally told

Centre · 2Netflix's reality competition Wonka's The Golden Ticket has the lowest Rotten Tomatoes audience score of any major Willy Wonka adaptation, according to Screen Rant and Collider. Centre · 2The series debuted with a record-low 11% critics' score. Screen Rant put the audience score at 23% on 3 October, while Collider later reported 30%, both at the time of writing. Centre · 1Screen Rant noted that fewer than 50 audience ratings had been counted, so the score could change after the 30 September finale.

Centre · 1For comparison, Tim Burton's 2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with Johnny Depp, stands at 51%, the 1971 Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory at 87%, and 2023's Wonka with Timothée Chalamet at 90%. Centre · 2In the show, 12 pairs of contestants compete in games and challenges in a recreated chocolate factory for a $3 million prize paid over 30 years; Collider reports the winner was Gabrielle Wright. Centre · 1The show has no traditional host. It uses an AI recreation of Gene Wilder's Wonka voice, licensed with permission from Wilder's estate, and this has drawn backlash.

Centre · 1Wilder's widow, Karen B. Wilder, said the decision was meant to honour the humour, wonder and heart he brought to the character. Centre · 1Reviews criticised the show for contradicting the moral message of Dahl's story and for lacking humour and charm. Centre · 2Despite the reception, the series debuted at No. 2 on Netflix's English-language TV chart with 4.6 million views, a gap between viewership and ratings that Screen Rant noted.

Centre · 1Netflix's Dahl slate continues with the animated Charlie vs. the Chocolate Factory, scheduled for 5 November 2027.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left0 outlets

No left outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

Centre2 outlets

Framing
Both outlets treat the score as a failure for the franchise. Screen Rant first reported the record, then ran an opinion piece. Collider's opinion piece says the show misses Dahl's point.
Emphasis
The AI Gene Wilder voice, the show's conflict with Dahl's moral message, and the gap between 4.6 million views and poor ratings.
Leaves out or plays down
Neither quotes Netflix on the ratings. Collider, the only outlet to cite the widow's statement, gives no response to the backlash.
Charged language
“unwanted Rotten Tomatoes record”“a New Low”“for All the Wrong Reasons”“uncanny”“joyless”
For example
“has officially set another unwanted Rotten Tomatoes record” — Screen Rant
“the AI voice was a major misstep for Netflix” — Screen Rant
“a rather joyless answer to a question nobody really needed to ask” — Collider

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.