‘Wicked’ Movie Undergoes Major Change

The musical film adaptation of Wicked won’t be in the original form as expected. Jon M. Chu’s version for Universal Pictures will be split into two films: the first to be released on Christmas Day 2024, and the second to debut exactly one year later in 2025. “Thank U Next” singer Ariana Grande and Broadway and singing sensation Cynthia Erivo are starring in lead roles as Glinda and Elphaba, respectively. Wicked, the prequel to The Wizard of Oz, tells the story of all that leads up to Dorothy’s arrival in town. Rent star Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth portrayed frenemies Elphaba and Glinda in the Broadway version of Wicked. 

Deadline reports that many movies broken into two parts have been blockbuster-level YA films based on books. Such include Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay. In a statement to the publication, Chu explained that it was seemingly impossible to confine the film into one. “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,” he wrote in part 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. We decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one Wicked movie but two! 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 for these beloved characters.”

Wicked is the second highest-grossing Broadway musical of all time. It originally debuted on stage in 2003. Coming in second behind the Broadway musical The Lion King, it’s already grossed over $1 billion. 

The casting of Grande and Erivo was announced last Fall. Production is reportedly taking place in the U.K. The two performers made the announcement in a joint Instagram statement, each sharing to their respective pages. Erivo shared a series of photos and wrote, “Pink goes good with Green,” with three green heart emojis. Grande’s post also included photos of Erivo and her getting on a Zoom call from the director giving them the news that they were cast in the big-screen musical. “Thank goodness,” Grande wrote, tagging the film, its director, and Erivo alongside a heart emoji. 

One person who will be missing from the new movie is Idina Menzel, who starred in the Broadway play. She will not be playing her character Elphaba in the movie. I’m very excited and I know it’s in great hands and I’ve sent so much love to Cynthia and Ariana and I’m there for them if they need me,” she said, per People Magazine. “And yes, I’m a little sad that I’m just older and can’t play the role, you know? And that’s the honest truth.”

Still, Menzel notes it is hard for her to imagine the new film without her as she would have loved to participate. “It’s the aging and the proprietorship of the role and what it means to me and how it changed my life. I just love it, and I miss her, I guess, is what I’m trying to say,” she said.