Jon M. Chu announced on social media that his upcoming adaptation of the musical Wicked is going to be be split into two films. The first part will release on Dec. 25, 2024, and the second one year later on Dec. 25, 2025. Why? Well, apparently because of how “deep” it is.
“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,” Chu said. “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.”
Look, I was obsessed with Wicked as a teenager. I made so many AMVs to it, and I’ve seen it twice. It has value, but it is absolutely not that dense of a work where it requires two parts, especially since only the first act is really any good. If you end your film on “Defying Gravity,” there is no reason to go see the next part.
For the uninitiated, Wicked is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz that explores the Wicked Witch of the West’s rise to power and how misunderstood her story in Oz was. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are set to star in the lead roles of Glinda and Elphaba, respectively, which has already caused some stir about them being too old for the characters. The musical will already be popular with certain audiences, but this just feels like a weird choice for a musical that has been out for several years.
(via Variety, image: TORSTEN BLACKWOOD/AFP via Getty Images)
