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MANILA, Philippines – Wicked director Jon M. Chu announced on Wednesday, April 27, that his upcoming adaptation of the musical of the same name will be split into two films.
“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 he shared on Twitter. “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.”
The director said that they’ve decided to make two Wicked movies to give themselves a “bigger canvas.” “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 of the beloved characters,” Chu added.
Universal Pictures will release the first Wicked movie on December 25, 2024, while the second Wicked movie will debut exactly a year later on December 25, 2025.
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are set to star as Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda, the Good Witch, respectively. Chu said of the lead stars’ commitment and dedication to making the film, “[We] pledge to create nothing less than an experience that honors its foundation for all fans who’ve waited for this movie, and to offer a thrilling, fantastical world full of dynamic characters that invites in those who are unfamiliar.”
Wicked’s live-action film adaptation was first announced in February 2019. Composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz, who also worked on the musical’s music and lyrics, is adapting the Wicked screenplay with Winnie Holzman. Original producer Marc Platt is also onboard in the adaptation.
The Broadway gem, which has been running since 2003, is based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 fairy tale revisionist novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which was inspired by the 1939 MGM classic The Wizard of Oz film.
The Tony award-winning musical is a prequel from the point of view of besties-turned-enemies, Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West (Idina Menzel) and Glinda, The Good Witch (Kristin Chenoweth). – Rappler.com
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