Hollywood can sometimes be a strange place where you see a headline for a project and you end up balking about it, that is, until you see the full details. That was certainly the case for a new movie focused on the Hershey chocolate company, which sounds a little more intriguing once it is revealed to be a period biopic about the real people behind the globally successful candy company that has been around for over 100 years.
The news hails from Variety, as they report that the project has landed director Mark Waters and is expected to take place in the early 1900s. Not only that, but they add that Finn Wittrock has been tapped to play Milton Hershey with Alexandra Daddario as his wife, Kitty Hershey.
The two would go on to create the American candy empire together as they founded the Hershey Company back in 1909.
While we’re in the modern era of billion-dollar companies exploiting their workers, that doesn’t seem to be the case with the Hershey duo. Other factory-focused businesses would go out of their way to be cruel to workers; that wasn’t the case with Hershey. They were behind helping expand the developing a town around their chocolate factory, as they built theaters, recreation centers, and public transportation for their candy workers.
The pair also have a well-documented history of philanthropy as twenty years after his death, Milton, transferred the majority of his fortune to the Milton Hershey School Trust (provided free education and housing to orphans and underprivileged children), becoming one of the wealthiest endowments for education in America.
Waters is quite the interesting selection for a period biopic project like this given his comedic career directing pics like “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past,” “Mean Girls,” “Freaky Friday,” “Mr. Popper’s Penguins,” and the raunchy holiday flick, “Bad Santa 2.” Then again, maybe having a background with softer, audience-friendly material will help highlight the couple’s inspiring dedication to altruism and building a community.
Dandelion Media, Hershey Entities, Aloe Entertainment, Peachtree Group, and RCM3 are behind the movie, with UTA Independent Film Group handling worldwide rights.
Despite not having a distributor, the untitled Hershey film is to begin filming this May across Pennsylvania, and hoping to have the project released sometime in 2026.
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
