There will soon be more to enjoy if you were looking forward to Universal Pictures’ upcoming film adaptation of Wicked. On Twitter, director Jon M. Chu announced that the Wicked movie will be split into two parts. The first Wicked movie will be released on December 25, 2024, followed by the second on December 25, 2025.
The film is based on the Tony-Award winning Broadway musical, which itself is an adaptation of Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are starring in both films as Glinda and Elphaba, whom fans will know as Glinda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West. If you didn’t already know, Wicked is a prequel to the Wizard of Oz, based the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by author L. Frank Baum, its sequels, and the 1939 film adaption. Wicked shows the friendship between the pair of witches and details how one became the Wicked Witch.
Winnie Holzman, who wrote the book based on the musical, is writing the script. Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the songs for the original Broadway production, will contribute to the screenplay. Film and stage producer Marc Platt returns to produce the film, after producing the stage play. Dear Evan Hansen, a theater musical adaptation starring his son, actor and singer Ben Platt, was also produced by Platt.
The Wicked movie is Chu’s follow-up to 2021’s In The Heights, which was another theatrical musical adaptation. The film premiered on HBO Max to positive reviews but low viewership numbers, owing to the film’s almost complete lack of colour in the actors. With this said, even if it was yet another example of a popular stage musical failing to find a big-screen audience, it remained one of many people’s favourite films of 2021.
