WICKED MOVIE: RELEASE DATE, CAST, STORY, TRAILER & EVERYTHING WE KNOW

An adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked is coming to the big screen, after years of being in development. The Wicked musical is an adaptation of the book Wicked, the first of the series The Wicked Years by Gregory Maguire which is itself a revisionist take on The Wizard of Oz books by L. Frank Baum. This version of the story focuses on Elphaba, the so-called Wicked Witch of the West, as well as the society and history of Oz. It fills in a lot of the blanks on the original books and film (such as why there is only one road!), and adds depth and complexity to the original simple tale.

In 2003, Stephen Schwartz adapted the novel to Broadway as the composer and lyricist and worked with Winnie Holzman to write the book (the narrative structure of a play). Like the novel, Wicked focuses on The Wizard of Oz witches before and after the events of the latter. Witches Elphaba and Galinda are the main characters and the musical gives context to the known story of Oz, introducing themes of forgiveness, trust, and discrimination. The huge success of the musical means that it is no surprise that a film adaptation is on the way.

The Latest Wicked Movie News

The Release Date Is Moved

With the upcoming musical movie expected to be a bona fide blockbuster, the latest news sees Wicked shift its release date forward. Originally scheduled to arrive on November 27, 2024, Wicked has now been moved from its Thanksgiving Day timeslot and instead is now slated for November 22. Though no reason has been given, the decision becomes clearer when looking at the movie's competition. Disney's highly-anticipated Moana 2 is also releasing on November 27, a film that will likely share an audience with Wicked. Now, the musical adaptation's big competition is Gladiator II, a film with much less audience overlap.

Wicked Movie Release Date

Part One Arrives In November

On Twitter, Chu announced Wicked movie news that the movie would be released in two parts, due to the depth and complexity of the story. Chu also announced at the same time that the first film would be released on December 25th, 2024 and the sequel on December 25, 2025. However, the release dates have since been moved up. Wicked Part 1 is now scheduled to be released on November 22, 2024, and Wicked: Part 2 is set to come out one year later, on November 26, 2025.

The musical is a two-act structure and has a handful of time jumps that cover multiple years, so splitting up the movie into two parts is the best way to make sure the breadth of the story is captured. Splitting Wicked to avoid cutting songs and characters may prove critically successful for Chu and financially for Universal.

The Wicked Movie Cast

Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo Lead An All-Star Cast

Most of the Wicked movie cast has been announced, and the biggest announcement came when Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were cast as Galinda and Elphaba, respectively. Elphaba's love, Fiyero, will be played by Jonathan Bailey, and veteran child actor Marissa Bode will be making her feature film debut as Elphaba's younger sister, Nessarose. Rounding out the main cast is Ethan Slater as Boq (via Collider).

The full main ensemble cast is as follows:

The Wicked Movie Will Add New Songs

"Defying Gravity" & More

Thankfully, no songs from the Wicked musical will be removed for the movie adaptation, and they all made the cut intact. Not only that but, according to Stephen Schwartz, who created the phenomenally successful Broadway play, there will be brand-new songs that were never in the stage production (via Playbill). With that in mind, it's hardly surprising that the adaptation is being split into two movies. However, there's no information on what the new songs are or which characters will sing them.

Given that most of the popular songs will likely be in the first movie with the 2024 release ending with "Defying Gravity," most of the new songs might not be heard until Wicked Part Two. Referring to "Defying Gravity," Schwartz also explained, "That song is written specifically to bring a curtain down, and whatever scene to follow it without a break just seemed hugely anti-climactic," hinting that the iconic song would close out Wicked Part One. While the two-part movie could risk being front-loaded, there's no doubt the new songs will be great with Schwartz's involvement.

Wicked Story Details

How Much Of The Musical Will Be In Part One?

Chu has been silent on how closely the Wicked movie story will follow the musical, but they will necessarily need to follow similar plot beats, assuming the same music will be used. The Wicked musical follows Elphaba and Galinda (who eventually becomes Glinda) as they go to university and room together. Elphaba, who was born green, is picked on by the other students until the blonde-haired and popular Galinda takes her under her wing.

Galinda and Elphaba begin to grow apart and characters from The Wizard of Oz enter the story in unexpected ways. The journey from college-aged women to the Witches of the North and West will likely be covered in the first film, while the second movie will probably deal with Dorothy. Wicked the musical starts later in the plot and then jumps back in time. It will be a challenge to depict the unusual plot structure and Wicked will have to overcome this problem if it wants to succeed.

Wicked Trailer

Watch The Trailer Here

Debuting during the 2024 Super Bowl, the long-awaited trailer for the first part of Wicked did not disappoint as it not only gave away story details but teased the music as well. While recent movie musicals like Mean Girls have downplayed their music, Wicked put "Defying Gravity" to the forefront for the trailer as it introduced Elphaba's struggle and the movie's connection to The Wizard of Oz. Though it was only a minute long, the trailer promises even more excitement once the full film arrives in November.

Not to be outdone by the trailer that debuted in early 2024, another full trailer for Wicked was dropped in May that gives fans even more hints of the best-selling musical soundtrack. Underscored by the well-known "Popular", the trailer gives more looks at the early relationship between Galinda and Elphaba, before turning its sights to many of the spectacular visuals found in the film. While the story and music is well known to fans, the trailer shines because reveals that the Wicked movie is a feast for the eyes as well as the ears.

• Wicked

  Release Date: 2024-11-27

  Director: Jon M. Chu

  Cast: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum

  Rating: Not Yet Rated

  Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Musical

  Writers: Winnie Holzman, Stephen Schwartz

  Creator : Winnie Holzman, Gregory Maguire, L. Frank Baum

  Studio(s): Marc Platt Productions

  Distributor(s): Universal Pictures

2023-03-10T13:32:31Z dg43tfdfdgfd