Wicked it will not be transposed into a single film, but apparently the transposition of the famous Broadway musical will be developed in two parts. The director gave the news Jon M. Chu (Crazy and Rich, Dreaming in New York – In The Heights) with a letter addressed to the many fans of Stephen Schwartz’s work.
The musical Wicked is based on the novel of 1995 of Gregory Maguire “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West“(In Italy published by Mondadori). The story written by Maguire revisits the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and tells the untold story of witches of Ozrecounting the secret friendship between Elphabathe Wicked Witch of the West, and Glindathe good Witch of the North.
Wicked: the film will be divided into two parts
There film adaptation of the musical Wicked (in turn an adaptation of the novel of the same name, which you can buy at this link) has been around for many years cross and delight of his fans. The first announcement of a possible cinematic incarnation is dated 2004but its production was subject to several push and pull which lasted until 2021when the film finally found in Jon M. Chu its director and in Ariana Grande And Cynthia Erivo its protagonists (respectively Glinda and Elphaba).
Since this is a much more than troubled production, the news that the film will be made in two parts has taken fans by surprise, as musicals are considered a genre appreciated by a niche very limited and with not always profitable results. This aspect could therefore be arousing concerns since Universal, in the event that the box office results are not satisfactory, may decide to leave the alternate story of the Witches of Oz unfinished.
While waiting to see the films at the cinema, let’s leave catastrophes aside for the moment: Wicked part one will be distributed onDecember 25, 2024while Wicked part two will debut at the cinema the following year, precisely on December 25, 2025.
Wicked 1 and 2: Chu’s motivations
Chu is a director no stranger to the musical scene, his latest effort was the adaptation of In The Heights by Lin-Manuel Miranda, therefore he is aware of the problems who can sneak up on transposing a theatrical show to the big screen.
Special #Wicked Movie Announcement… ✌sent from my OzPhone: pic.twitter.com/4qPpvVD4rR
– Jon M. Chu (@jonmchu) April 26, 2022
In his letter to fans Chu identifies just this aspect as major obstacle for the production of a single film. According to Chu, enclosing the whole story within a couple of hours would totally go to detriment of the original workforcing very painful adaptation choices, such as the elimination of some song or character.
Underlining the decision not to make any compromises of this type, there is a passage in which the director, supported by all the cast and crew, commits in creating something that isheight of expectations of all those who love Wicked and who have been waiting patiently for this film for years.
