Are you a fan of Willy Wonka? That seems unimportant if you were at a Willy Wonka-themed event in Glasgow. The event turned out to be so dire, so terrifying, and so extremely unsettling that the attendees actually called the police.
Last month, Glasgow, Scotland, hosted an unlicensed event called Willy’s Chocolate Experience, which was based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The objective of this event was to provide an ‘immersion experience’ into the world of Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory. It was promoted with AI images and advertisements that promised an ‘enchanted’ day at the Candy Man’s factory.
Photos taken by frustrated attendees at Willy’s Chocolate Experience held in Glasgow, Scotland
Ultimately, as we now know, it turned out to be something seriously disappointing. Families shelled out more than $40 for a ticket to explore a warehouse full of cheaply decorated sets, actors who looked disheveled,...
Last month, Glasgow, Scotland, hosted an unlicensed event called Willy’s Chocolate Experience, which was based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The objective of this event was to provide an ‘immersion experience’ into the world of Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory. It was promoted with AI images and advertisements that promised an ‘enchanted’ day at the Candy Man’s factory.
Photos taken by frustrated attendees at Willy’s Chocolate Experience held in Glasgow, Scotland
Ultimately, as we now know, it turned out to be something seriously disappointing. Families shelled out more than $40 for a ticket to explore a warehouse full of cheaply decorated sets, actors who looked disheveled,...
- 3/20/2024
- by Siddhika Prajapati
- FandomWire
The person behind the failed Willy Wonka U.K. “immersive experience” is speaking out after the event went viral on social media.
Billy Coull’s firm House of Illuminati was responsible for the failed fan attraction Willy’s Chocolate Experience — which was inspired by Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but not affiliated with the book or movies.
The event that promised to transport fans into a “magical realm” ended up leaving some children in tears and other customers comparing it to a meth lab and calling the police, which Coull said he takes full responsibility for.
Coull recently told The Sunday Times that he did “absolutely not” anticipate the amount of attention the event eventually received and added that “it all looked good on paper.”
Earlier this month, he also issued a formal apology on the House of Illuminati’s Facebook page. “I want to extend my...
Billy Coull’s firm House of Illuminati was responsible for the failed fan attraction Willy’s Chocolate Experience — which was inspired by Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but not affiliated with the book or movies.
The event that promised to transport fans into a “magical realm” ended up leaving some children in tears and other customers comparing it to a meth lab and calling the police, which Coull said he takes full responsibility for.
Coull recently told The Sunday Times that he did “absolutely not” anticipate the amount of attention the event eventually received and added that “it all looked good on paper.”
Earlier this month, he also issued a formal apology on the House of Illuminati’s Facebook page. “I want to extend my...
- 3/7/2024
- by Carly Thomas
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Kaledonia Pictures says it’s making The Unknown, loosely based on the doomed Willy’s Chocolate Experience; organiser says it was unaware about the film.
Willy’s Chocolate Experience in Glasgow, a calamitous live family event held in late February that went viral, continues to make headlines. And among all the memes and accounts of what went wrong – taken from jobbing actors involved in the event – there emerged the story that a film was being made, loosely based on a character connected to it all.
That film is said to be a horror film called The Unknown, and according to its production company, Kaledonia Pictures, it’s set for release later this year.
According to the event organiser behind the experience, however – a company called House Of Illuminati, founded by Glaswegian Billy Coull – it had no previous knowledge of the film. Nor, it says, does it have any connection to Kaledonia Pictures,...
Willy’s Chocolate Experience in Glasgow, a calamitous live family event held in late February that went viral, continues to make headlines. And among all the memes and accounts of what went wrong – taken from jobbing actors involved in the event – there emerged the story that a film was being made, loosely based on a character connected to it all.
That film is said to be a horror film called The Unknown, and according to its production company, Kaledonia Pictures, it’s set for release later this year.
According to the event organiser behind the experience, however – a company called House Of Illuminati, founded by Glaswegian Billy Coull – it had no previous knowledge of the film. Nor, it says, does it have any connection to Kaledonia Pictures,...
- 3/6/2024
- by Ryan Lambie
- Film Stories
Kaledonia Pictures, the production company making Wonka experience-inspired film The Unknown, appears to be rather new, with its website only appearing a matter of days ago.
The past day has brought a new twist to the ongoing saga of the Willy’s Chocolate Experience in Glasgow, which went viral in late February: a production company called Kaledonia Pictures is working on a film loosely based on it, called The Unknown. It’s said to be some sort of supernatural horror about a “renowned illustrator and his wife who are haunted by the tragic death of their son,” and encounter an “unknowable evil” in the Scottish Highlands.
Filmmakers hurriedly cashing in on events isn’t new – hence the assorted horror films based on the newly-out-of-copyright Steamboat Willie that are currently in the works.
What is somewhat odd about The Unknown, however, is that Kaledonia Pictures has almost no internet footprint whatsoever.
The past day has brought a new twist to the ongoing saga of the Willy’s Chocolate Experience in Glasgow, which went viral in late February: a production company called Kaledonia Pictures is working on a film loosely based on it, called The Unknown. It’s said to be some sort of supernatural horror about a “renowned illustrator and his wife who are haunted by the tragic death of their son,” and encounter an “unknowable evil” in the Scottish Highlands.
Filmmakers hurriedly cashing in on events isn’t new – hence the assorted horror films based on the newly-out-of-copyright Steamboat Willie that are currently in the works.
What is somewhat odd about The Unknown, however, is that Kaledonia Pictures has almost no internet footprint whatsoever.
- 3/5/2024
- by Ryan Lambie
- Film Stories
The biggest event disaster since the Fyre Festival concert fiasco has drawn a second apology from its promoters.
The director of the disastrous Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow, Billy Coull, posted a lengthy explanation of what went wrong on Facebook.
The event, billed as “Willy’s Chocolate Experience,” promised attendees chocolate fountains, performances by Oompa Loompas, and “a celebration of chocolate in all its delightful forms.”
Instead, they received a sparsely decorated warehouse featuring two women with green wigs playing the Oompa Loompas, and actor Paul Connell, whose red hair and beard made him less Willy Wonka and self-admittedly more like an Oompa Loompa.
The resultant uproar from attendees made worldwide news, and has spawned a cottage industry of related memes.
Shortly after word emerged on the disaster, House of Illuminati issued a brief statement.
“Unfortunately, last minute we were let down in many areas of our event and tried...
The director of the disastrous Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow, Billy Coull, posted a lengthy explanation of what went wrong on Facebook.
The event, billed as “Willy’s Chocolate Experience,” promised attendees chocolate fountains, performances by Oompa Loompas, and “a celebration of chocolate in all its delightful forms.”
Instead, they received a sparsely decorated warehouse featuring two women with green wigs playing the Oompa Loompas, and actor Paul Connell, whose red hair and beard made him less Willy Wonka and self-admittedly more like an Oompa Loompa.
The resultant uproar from attendees made worldwide news, and has spawned a cottage industry of related memes.
Shortly after word emerged on the disaster, House of Illuminati issued a brief statement.
“Unfortunately, last minute we were let down in many areas of our event and tried...
- 3/2/2024
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Billy Coull, organizer of the now virally infamous knockoff Willy Wonka-themed family event in Glasgow last weekend, on Friday sought to calm furious parents demanding refunds for the pricey but decidedly lackluster “immersive” exhibit. In a statement shared on Facebook, he issued apologies to customers and reiterated a promise to refund everyone.
“Willy’s Chocolate Experience,” the trademark-skirting name given to Coull’s botched venture, was supposed to offer young fans of Roald Dahl’s novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and its various film adaptations a chance to experience...
“Willy’s Chocolate Experience,” the trademark-skirting name given to Coull’s botched venture, was supposed to offer young fans of Roald Dahl’s novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and its various film adaptations a chance to experience...
- 3/1/2024
- by Miles Klee
- Rollingstone.com
It’s just a fact that, for all their wonder and whimsy, Roald Dahl‘s children’s books can be terrifying. The heroine of Matilda, abandoned to a strict school by uncaring parents, must survive the cruelties of the headmistress, Miss Trunchbull. Unlike the friendly giant of the title, the other giants in The Bfg snatch humans to eat from their beds every night. The Witches concerns a conspiracy of demonic crones bent on eradicating kids altogether.
In other words, Dahl’s often macabre fantasies are not safe spaces (as...
In other words, Dahl’s often macabre fantasies are not safe spaces (as...
- 2/29/2024
- by Miles Klee
- Rollingstone.com
Parents are furious at a man who charged them as much as £35 (around $44) per ticket for a Willy Wonka-themed family event in Glasgow, Scotland, this weekend. That’s because the “immersive” experience sold to them by a sketchy company called House of Illuminati turned out to be little more than a few set props and unprepared actors in a mostly barren warehouse — with no chocolate whatsoever.
Customers, some of whom traveled from afar and waited in a long line with their children, were incensed enough to call the police after...
Customers, some of whom traveled from afar and waited in a long line with their children, were incensed enough to call the police after...
- 2/28/2024
- by Miles Klee
- Rollingstone.com
Oompa, Loompa, doompa-dee-dand, an “immersive” Willy Wonka experience got out of hand. Oompa Loompa, doompa-dee-deece, kids started crying, parents called the police.
The event in Glasgow, Scotland, was meant to be a celebration of Wonka, last year’s Timothée Chalamet-starring prequel, complete with chocolates, dancing Ooompa-Loompas, and special audio and visual effects. Produced by organizers House of Illuminati, the event was billed as a “journey filled with wondrous creations and enchanting surprises at every turn,” though the main surprise turned out to be that generic movie spon-c0n became more unsettling than the factory in Roald Dahl’s book.
Attendees arrived at a small, sparsely-filled warehouse in an industrial section of Glasgow to find plastic decorations, a small bouncy castle, and a surprising lack of confections. Tickets for the event cost up to £35, and many purchasers reported traveling long distances and being barred from entry upon arrival.
One attendee,...
The event in Glasgow, Scotland, was meant to be a celebration of Wonka, last year’s Timothée Chalamet-starring prequel, complete with chocolates, dancing Ooompa-Loompas, and special audio and visual effects. Produced by organizers House of Illuminati, the event was billed as a “journey filled with wondrous creations and enchanting surprises at every turn,” though the main surprise turned out to be that generic movie spon-c0n became more unsettling than the factory in Roald Dahl’s book.
Attendees arrived at a small, sparsely-filled warehouse in an industrial section of Glasgow to find plastic decorations, a small bouncy castle, and a surprising lack of confections. Tickets for the event cost up to £35, and many purchasers reported traveling long distances and being barred from entry upon arrival.
One attendee,...
- 2/27/2024
- by Paolo Ragusa
- Consequence - Film News
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