1 day ago
11 
A new biopic is set for release later this year, all about the founder of American chocolate brand Hershey’s – but its trailer has left a bitter taste in some fans’ mouths.
Many have rolled their eyes over the next biographical drama in a long line of movies about corporations and their founders, while others took issue with its presentation, script and music.
Hershey is helmed by Mean Girls and Freaky Friday director Mark Waters and stars La La Land and Judy actor Finn Wittrock opposite White Lotus and Percy Jackson actress Alexandra Daddario, who play founder Milton S. Hershey and his wife Kitty.
The film depicts him striving for a chocolate breakthrough at the turn of the twentieth century after achieving success as a manufacturer of caramels.
‘Candy is not just my business; candy is my obsession. I want to make a perfect product,’ Wittrock’s Milton declares at the trailer’s start, sliding a caramel over the counter and convincing a bank to loan him the required funds.
Next thing we know though, it’s: ‘Caramels are a fad. Milk chocolate candies – that’s the future!’
Meanwhile he and Daddario’s Kitty are making eyes at each other across a shop floor, dancing together and vowing to ‘make their own milk chocolate’ – which ends with them in the kitchen, sharing a kiss (assumingly a wink to their next popular product) over a perfect batch in a mixing bowl.
‘This is like a TV movie Jack Donaghy would claim to be producing in a throwaway joke on 30 Rock,’ commented one X user, with a sentiment shared by many as Jacob Knight mused: ‘We’re living in a golden age of Fake 30 Rock Movies That Inexplicably Became Real.’
‘Feels like an AI prompt that they decided to turn into a real movie,’ complained another fan on YouTube of the rather cloying teaser, complete with twinkling, oddly festive music throughout, while another agreed: ‘I’m 100% convinced AI is already writing some of these scripts.’
Others were also wondered out loud if Hollywood was ‘running out of people to make biopics about’, with Skyler responding: ‘I feel like we hit that point like a decade ago when Jennifer Lawrence was in one about the lady who invented the mop.’
That would be 2015’s Joy, directed by David O. Russell, about Miracle Mop inventor Joy Mangano. But we’ve also had other corporation-focused biopics in recent years like The Founder (McDonalds), Blackberry in 2023 (self-explanatory) and two about Apple founder Steve Jobs (2013’s Jobs, with Ashton Kutcher and 2015’s Steve Jobs with Michael Fassbender).
There has also been pseudo-biopic Wonka with Timothee Chalamet, which fans couldn’t help but reference, as well as Unfrosted, Jerry Seinfeld’s take on the invention of the Pop-Tart for Netflix.
What do you make of the Hershey biopic trailer?
Hershey is produced by Angel Studios, known for its ‘value-based’ projects and strong Christian themes, which viewers were also picking up on from the film’s aesthetics – and ‘within seconds’ in some fans’ cases.
‘My first thought after watching the first few seconds of the Hershey trailer was that it looks like an Angel Studios movie except about Hershey instead of some Christian thing and then the Angel Studios logo appeared,’ wrote a bemused fan on X.
‘Even with real actors I know and have liked in things, there’s still such an Angel Studios chintziness to this trailer that makes it feel fake,’ added Graham.
‘I watched half a second of this trailer and immediately knew it was made by Angel Studios,’ chimed in Mia Moore.
However, others were more here for the movie, and particularly the casting of Richard Kind as what appears to be some kind of mentor to the young Milton.
He’s seen towards the end in a red and white striped suit assuring the pint-sized protagonist: ‘You like the work, there’s no sweeter way to make a living.’
‘1 min, 29 seconds: This looks awful. 1 min, 30 seconds: RICHARD KIND I AM IN,’ posted one especially excited fan, while Tom Zohar joked: ‘I’ve seen enough. Richard Kind is getting that Oscar.’
In 1909, Milton and Kitty founded the Hershey Industrial School, which provided free education and housing to orphans and underprivileged children, which later became the majority beneficiary of his fortune in a trust.
Like Cadbury in the UK with Bourneville, a town was built around the Hersey factory in Pennsylvania, with the movie shooting in and around it in the state.
Hershey is set for release in the US on November 26, 2026, for Thanksgiving. A UK release is yet to be confirmed.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
Bengali (Bangladesh) · 
English (United States) ·