At long last, two decades after taking Broadway by storm and becoming a full-on cultural phenomenon, the beloved musicalWickedis finally coming to the big screen. Set as a direct prequel toThe Wizard of Oz,Wickedtells the story of Elphaba (who would become the Wicked Witch of the West) and Galinda (later Glinda the Good), two childhood friends from the Land of Oz who gradually become enemies. The musical has been an enduring classic for its fans, its soundtrack by Stephen Schwartz is beloved, and it made household names out of original stars Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenoweth.
But considering howadaptingWickedto filmwould effectively be an excuse for Universal to print millions of dollars by default, what’s taken them so long to finally bring it to light?
The Early Delays of Wicked
Wicked adapts the Broadway musical into a two-part film, following the unlikely friendship between Elphaba, born with green skin, and Glinda, a popular aristocrat, in the Land of Oz. As they navigate their contrasting paths, they evolve into Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.
Considering how fast out of the gateWickedbecame a smash hit (it hit stages in 2003), arguably what’s most surprising is how long it took for a film adaptation to be announced. Especially considering the slate of successfulmovie musicals in the early 2000s(including but not limited toMoulin Rouge,Sweeney Todd, andHairspray),Wickedseemed as much a guaranteed blockbuster as any of them. Yet it wasn’t until the box office success ofLes Misérablesin 2012 that Universal officially confirmed an adaptation was in the works.
What followed was almost four years of radio silence. All we knew was that a film would be coming at some point, but no details of when or who would be attached. Finally, in 2016, Universal announced a release date of Aug 05, 2025, with Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot,The Reader) attached to direct. Fans were overjoyed, and the question on everyone’s mind was whetherIdina Menzel and Kristen Chenoweth would returnto reprise their roles. With Menzel in particular, it seemed like a theoretical lock, considering howFrozenhad made her a bigger name than ever.
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Fans didn’t know and, in fact, didn’t hear any news about casting decisions and were greeted with another long period of radio silence. In 2018, with only a year until its planned release, Universal took the film off the schedule (the ill-fatedCatsended up taking the planned release date), and the following year, they announced a release window for 2021. But why wasWickedgetting delayed so frequently, considering its vocal fanbase would ensure it’d be a hit, potentiallyreaching the success of something like Barbie? Nothing has ever been said, but one can reason that the creatives recognized how beloved the source material is and were taking as much time as they needed to get it right.
Nonetheless, it seemed like things were finally moving forward. But alas, 2020 threw the entire world into flux thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning that meeting a 2021 release would be impossible and that another delay was inevitable. Later that year, Daldry exited the project due to scheduling conflicts, and for a time, it looked like things were back to square one.
Wicked Continued to Hit Speed Bumps
As the world started to return to a semblance of normalcy, so did the status of theWickedmovie. In 2021, Jon M. Chu, whose work onIn the Heightswas getting wildly positive notices at test screenings, took the director’s seat. Unlike previous attempts, progress kept gaining momentum as a cast was finally announced, with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande taking the coveted roles of Elphaba and Glinda. A production start was set for the following year, and things were, at long last, on the right track.
Yet production hit another speed bump the following year, this time for purely creative reasons. In attempting to break down the script, Chu and Stephen Schwartz quickly realized that there was no way they could cut any songs or minor characters without hurting the story. Additionally,the show’s iconic number “Defying Gravity,” which ends Act 1, was such an emotional high point that any succeeding scene would inevitably feel anticlimactic.
As a result, Chu announced in early 2022 thatWickedwould be split into two installments and that doing so would allow them to maintain total devotion to the source material while giving them new opportunities to expand the story. Indeed, Schwartz has confirmed that new songs will be featured in each installment. The two films were set for release in 2024 and 2025, and after that, production moved forward relatively smoothly, albeit with a brief interruption in filming, with theSAG-AFTRA strike shutting production down.
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The Wicked Journey Is Almost Complete
The quest to bring one of Broadway’s most beloved hits to the big screen has been a long one, but fans are finally being rewarded for their patience.Wickeddebuted itslong-awaited first trailerat the Super Bowl last Sunday, and it showed surprisingly little of the musical numbers; the scenery on display looks faithful to the show fans know and love. It’s already clear that the project was a labor of love for its creative team and that the time spent trying to get it right seems to have paid off. Seeing “Defying Gravity” on the big screen will surely be one of the most awe-inspiring moments of 2024, and Thanksgiving cannot come soon enough.Wickedwill premiere in theaters on Jul 17, 2025.
