A trio of new movies come to South African cinemas tomorrow, 8 December, ranging from big budget musicals and animated family adventures, to a seasonal action flick from a genre filmmaking legend. Time to find out about all of them below.


It’s not exactly a prequel that anyone asked for, but here we are with Wonka, an origin story for author Roald Dahl’s beloved chocolatier, inventor and magician. Timothée Chalamet plays title character Willy Wonka at the start of his career in this dazzling musical fantasy, which comes from the director and producer of the Paddington films, for the record. The film’s all-star cast includes Keegan-Michael Key, Matt Lucas, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Jim Carter and Olivia Colman.


On the opposite end of the tonal spectrum there’s Silent Night, an action thriller that marks the return of director John Woo to American cinema for the first time since 2003’s Paycheck. Woo’s 20-years-later comeback is a completely dialogue-free revenge tale, where a man (Joel Kinnaman) embarks on a bloody and grueling quest to punish the gang members responsible for his young son’s death on Christmas Eve. The same attack cost our hero his voice.


Finally there’s animated adventure The Inseparables to entertain families as the school holidays commence. From the writers of Toy Story, this against-the-odds buddy movie follows a runaway puppet with a boundless imagination, and an abandoned stuffed animal toy in need of a friend, as they cross paths in New York’s Central Park and pair up for an epic adventure.