Wicked, based on the 2-hour and 45-minute hit stage musical and adapted from the novel by George Maguire, will be made into a two-part movie and will star Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. The first film is set for release Christmas 2024, and the second to premiere the following Christmas of 2025. Jon M. Chu, the film director for Wicked, recently announced that it would be “impossible to wrestle” the story of Wicked into a single movie.
In production since 2003, the play is the 11th longest-running Broadway show of all time. Written by Winnie Holzman and score by Stephen Schwartz, the original production won three Tony Awards, including Best Actress in a Musical for Idina Menzel. Marc Platt, who produced the Broadway musical, will also produce the film.
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Two Witches Visit the Emerald City
YouTube - Ariana Grande
In the prequel that tells the story of what happened before the gingham-clad Dorothy landed on the land of Oz, Grande will play the role of Glinda (the Good Witch) while Erivo (the Wicked Witch of the West) will strap on her broom as Elphaba, two unlikely friends who journey to the Emerald City.
Wicked is based on the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which is based on the classic 1900 L. Frank Baum novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Needless to say, all the Oz fans know that something obviously went wrong regarding the friendship between Glinda (formerly known as Galinda) and Elphaba with the latter’s fall from grace ultimately ending with a house dropping on her. The two upcoming films will make all that clear in great detail.
In development since 2004, bringing the project to film has not been without its snags. COVID-19 production shutdowns delayed the original set release date of Dec. 22, 2021, and the previous director, Stephen Daldry left in 2020 due to scheduling conflicts. Additional casting news is yet to be announced.
