‘Wicked’ Now Two Movies, Announces Director Jon M. Chu
The long-awaited film adaptation of Wicked is going to be split into two films, as revealed earlier today by director Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, In The Heights). The films are led by Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba the Wicked and Ariana Grande as Glinda the Good.
Chu explained that as they were looking at the source material for things to leave out of the film adaptation, they realized that cutting anything would be a disservice to the story of the Witches of Oz if they reduced the runtime. Their solution is that they will make Wicked an even bigger movie by making it a two-part event, which will allow the adaptation to provide additional insights into its characters and the world of Oz while featuring all the major content from the original story. Here’s what he had to say below:
Special #Wicked Movie Announcement… ✌🏼🎬🧹🌸💚sent from my OzPhone: pic.twitter.com/4qPpvVD4rR
— Jon M. Chu (@jonmchu) April 26, 2022
The play Wicked typically runs between 2 hours and 30 minutes (not counting the intermission), with the runtime breaking down to 1 hour and 28 minutes for Act 1, and 1 hour and 2 minutes for Act 2. While a 2.5-hour movie is doable for a studio, it appears that Chu will be allowed more time to tell the story. This most likely means that the first film will end with the show-stopping “Defying Gravity” and that the second film will most likely compensate for having less source material to work with by creating new scenes to get the film to feature length, although it seems likely that new material will be added for both films.
Wicked, adapted from the far less family-friendly Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, is a revisionist adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s Oz mythology that concerns itself with the secret history of the witches of Oz: Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, and Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. Following the end of Dorothy’s first quest in Oz, it comes to light that the supposed enemies were once good friends, and Glinda explains a version of her story to her subjects. However, the audience is shown the full, unabridged past of Elphaba, and as secrets surface, whether or not she is as vile as those in power claims that she is comes into question. The musical is a smash-hit on Broadway, and a film adaptation has been brewing for a substantial amount of time. While there is still quite a bit of wait left to go, the two-part movie is now closer than ever to being made.
Wicked Part One and Wicked Part Two will be arriving on the Christmas Days of 2024 and 2025.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
