Forty-seven years ago a movie aired about children winning tickets to a chocolate factory in which people are never seen entering or leaving. It was based on Roald Dahl's book entitled Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The protagonist is a little boy named Charlie who unknowingly violates the small-print rules of a contract involving his visit by stealing Fizzy Lifting Drinks. Charlie brought to tears is nearly inconsolable. His uncle Joe suggests revenge on Wonka by giving the everlasting gobstopper treat to Wonka's competitor.
In a moment of moral clarity the young Charlie does the right thing and surrenders the prized confectionary creation to Wonka who declares "You did it!" The competitor turned out to be a fellow employee (but not an Oompa-Loompa) used as a morality test. Before this the other four 'brats' had failed at some point during the tour. Husky Augustus Gloop falls into fudge river, spoiled Veruca Salt demands a golden goose and falls into garbage chute, open mouth gum chewing Violet Beauregard eats an experimental gum, and television obsessed Mike Teevee teleports in reduced size Wonkavision.
A "remake" in 2005 replaces Gene Wilder with Johnny Depp and more conflict over the written script adaptation.
Maybe instead of a remake how about a complete overhaul with modernization? What if the story centered on virtual reality or 'gaming' instead of a sweets factory?
Ten winning entries are obtained by unlocking the encrypted keys. The keys are hidden within the special secret golden level of popular video games.
1 PacMan
2 Final Fantasy
3 Zelda
4 Donkey Kong
5 Tetris
6 Grand Theft Auto
7 Super Mario
8 Pokémon
9 Metroid
10 Call of Duty
The only restriction is that the game must be played online. Players must enter all their personal information and be monitored while playing. Of course both adults and children may qualify.
What type of players would succeed? Once they succeed they may access the top secret site. Is it a factory? A rumored government contractor? An abandoned Amazon facility had been renovated and simply appears as a big black box near Philadelphia. No signage on the exterior. The address is a series of 0s and 1s. Does that mean anything?
Of course the Oompa-Loompas have been replaced by robots. Boston Dynamics would be envious.
Just my initial sketchy thoughts.
