Before the moment that was Hamilton, the production that captured the hearts of musical theatre fans around the world for years was Wicked. Now, we’re getting a Wicked movie – a couple, in fact.
If you cast your minds back to 2003 (yes, that long ago), you may recall the absolute tsunami of attention this little musical about the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good received. The Wicked musical production, which is based on Gregory Maguire’s novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, has received 64 award nominations over the years. That includes 10 Tony Award nominations and three wins.
The latest chapter of this Wicked tale, however, is that the musical production is being adapted into a movie starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. Here’s what we know about the Wicked movies so far.
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What is Wicked about?
If you missed the hype over the years, Wicked is about the central witches in The Wizard of Oz story: Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) and Glinda (the Good Witch).
Elphaba is a green-skinned witch who doesn’t really fit in because of her greenness and her outspoken nature. She discovers corruption in Oz (gasp!), and Glinda, who is old university friends with Elphaba, is torn over the drama.
The synopsis reads as follows:
The story of how a green-skinned woman framed by the Wizard of Oz becomes the Wicked Witch of the West; feature film based on the Broadway musical.
Who has been cast in the Wicked movies?
So far, we know that the Wicked movie is being led by a couple of powerhouse talents. Cynthia Erivo (Harriet) has been cast as Elphaba, and Ariana Grande (Don’t Look Up) is playing Glinda.
These two leading witches are joined by Jonathan Bailey (Fiyero Tigelaar), Ethan Slater (Boq), Michelle Yeoh (Madame Morrison), Jeff Goldblum (The Wizard of Oz), Keala Settle (Miss Coddle), and Peter Dinklage in an unnamed role.
Behind the camera, we have director Jon M. Chu, who brought us recent hits Crazy Rich Asians and In the Heights. This Wicked movie lineup is looking pretty impressive so far.
Wicked movie Part 1 trailer
We finally have a trailer for the first Wicked movie, and it looks about as magical and powerful as you’d imagine.
This official trailer follows the movie’s first sneak peek, which dropped a few months back:
What else do we know?
Back in 2022, director Jon M. Chu announced there was going to be a change to the approach of the Wicked movie. He shared that squeezing the story into just one movie wouldn’t work, so they’re making two films, instead.
“As we prepared the production over the last year, it became impossible to wrestle the story of ‘Wicked’ into a single film without doing some real damage to it,” Chu wrote in a statement on the update.
“As we tried to cut songs or trim characters, those decisions began to feel like fatal compromises to the source material that has entertained us all for so many years. We decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one ‘Wicked’ movie but two! With more space, we can tell the story of ‘Wicked’ as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys for these beloved characters.”
When can we expect a release date?
For the first of the movies, Wicked – Part One, IMDb initially stated that the expected release date was December 25, 2024. This has since been moved up to November 28, 2024. Yay!
Wicked – Part Two is reportedly slated for release exactly one year later: December 25, 2025.
If you’re desperate for a dose of Wicked magic ahead of the movie’s release date, you can check out the stage production in Melbourne now and in Brisbane from September 2024.
This article has been updated since its original publish date.
Lead Image Credit: Universal
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