I'm not sure we need another Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie, but if we're going to get one, Warner Bros. sure is putting together one hell of an exciting creative team. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Paddington director Paul King is in final negotiations to direct Warner's Willy Wonka, a reimagining of Roald Dahl's beloved children's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Story details are being kept under wraps, but the screenplay comes from Man Seeking Woman creator and former Saturday Night Live writer Simon Rich. Producer David Heyman, who previously worked with King on the Paddington films, revealed in 2016 that the new movie would not be a remake, but a new approach to the iconic Dahl character.

At the time, he spoke to /Film about the early development stages on the script,

"It’s challenging because you don’t have Dahl, you don’t have a Dahl book, and yet you have a Dahl character. But I think there’s a lot in his character that suggests who he is and also where he might come from or what his childhood or his middle age might have been like. So we’re exploring that. We’re discussing it. We’re in the very early stages and very excited about what lies ahead."

King's Paddington films have been celebrated by critics and triumphed at the box office. Paddington 2 tore it up in the UK last year and arrived stateside this January, earning more than $205 million at the worldwide box office and earning the highest Rotten Tomatoes score of all time. It's still sitting pretty at 100% at the moment, and from critics to audiences to the kiddos who can't get enough of the Marmalade-loving bear, everyone seems to agree that the Paddington pics are new family classics. Which is all to say that King is a damn fine pick for redirecting the franchise, especially with a creative, subversive writer like Rich behind the script.

They'll surely have their hands full trying to find the right actor to take on the iconic character. Gene Wilder originated Wonka on-screen in Mel Stuart's 1971 classic and Johnny Depp took in the role, to rather divisive results, in Tim Burton's 2005 readaptation. No release date is set for Willy Wonka yet, so the studio has some time to find the right performer to fill those shoes.