Wicked (movies)

[scenicdesign71]

Not having kept up with it for almost a year, I had missed the news this past April: Wicked will be broken into two movies, set for Christmas releases in 2024 and 2025, with Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda.  Also Jonathan Bailey (Viscount Bridgerton in the eponymous Netflix series; Jamie in the 2016 London Last Five Years; another Jamie in Marianne Elliott's 2018 London Company), as Fiyero.

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/wicked-movie-two-films-1235241189/

After almost two decades, I still haven't seen the show.  (Yes, I know. The Lion King, either.  Ever since Broadway reopened, I've been thinking a little more seriously than usual about finally rectifying these omissions -- and more seriously still, now that the eternal Phantom has announced its closing: a reminder that nothing runs literally forever).

But, at least in theory, I can see a certain sense in making the film a two-parter.  Onstage, it runs two and a half hours (not including intermission), and director Jon M. Chu claims that cuts sufficient to bring that down to conventional feature length seemed too painful.  I can't agree or disagree without having studied the show's libretto or seen it onstage.  But in terms of screen adaptation, the Maguire novel -- and indeed the whole Oz universe -- offers fantasy-worldbuilding opportunities that I can imagine neither Chu himself nor Universal wanting to skimp on.  (It was Universal's theatrical division that developed the stage musical in the first place, presumably with a potential film adaptation in mind -- though they couldn't have realized that, whether in spite or because of their stage version's unpredictable once-in-a-generation blockbuster success, the movie(s) would end up taking 20+ years to get made).

[scenicdesign71]

Part One will now premiere a month sooner than previously announced -- Thanksgiving (instead of Christmas) 2024:

https://variety.com/2023/film/news/wicked-movie-release-date-thanksgiving-1235553635/

The article also includes complete casting; rehearsals began last summer, and filming has been underway since December in the UK.

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[scenicdesign71]

I'm not even a particular fan of the show (again, based on its OBCR and a smattering of full and partial YouTube "slime tutorials"), but now that the movie is well into production, Facebook keeps feeding me tidbits about it.  Here's a look at some of Wicked's Nathan Crowley-designed exteriors:

https://www.vulture.com/2023/04/wicked-movie-set-photos-behind-the-scenes.html

...In other news, Mr. Chu has signed on to direct a movie version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for Amazon.  I take this as welcome proof that, notwithstanding a worrying industrywide slowdown since last fall and a writers' strike potentially beginning next month, the "streaming bubble" has not in fact burst just yet.  Especially post-Cats, the idea of anyone greenlighting a cinematic Joseph seems to me a reassuring indicator that we're still not past Peak Content Glut, where pretty much anything can still get made.

[scenicdesign71]

Part One will now premiere a month sooner than previously announced -- Thanksgiving (instead of Christmas) 2024:

https://variety.com/2023/film/news/wicked-movie-release-date-thanksgiving-1235553635/

Wicked, Part Two (now subtitled For Good) has also now been pulled forward a month, to Thanksgiving (instead of Christmas) 2025:

https://playbill.com/article/both-wicked-movies-are-hitting-screens-earlier-than-first-announced

Part 1:  November 27, 2024
Part 2:  November 26, 2025


(Because I know we're all on tenterhooks).

[scenicdesign71]

This is a few days old, but I suppose I should put it here...

[scenicdesign71]

Trailers are trailers, and this one does its job — including its generous length, which, at risk of spoiling many eye-popping visuals and quite a bit of plot, serves up a gluttonous helping of what the show's fans have presumably been hungering for.  In any case, despite my own relatively mild appreciation for the source material, this does look grand:

Plus a little behind-the-scenes love-fest with Chu, Erivo and Grande:

[KathyB]

I saw this today and thought it was worthy of sharing: