Overview
Film lovers, you'll be off to see the witches, the powerful witches of Oz, when Wicked soars from the page and the stage to the screen in 2024. The famous and beloved theatre musical adapts a book that takes inspiration from The Wizard of Oz, and has been a show-going favourite for more than two decades thanks to composer Stephen Schwartz and playwright Winnie Holzman. Now, it's heading to cinemas as a two-part movie.
The first instalment, aka Wicked: Part One, arrives in November with Ariana Grande (Don't Look Up) as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo (Pinocchio) as Elphaba — and with director Jon M Chu (In the Heights, Crazy Rich Asians) behind the lens. Grande dons pink and Erivo sports the requisite green in the debut trailer for the movie, which arrived amid the annual Super Bowl sneak-peek frenzy (see also: Deadpool & Wolverine).
Haven't caught the stage show on its current Australian run, including in Sydney since 2023 and in Melbourne from March 2024? Defy gravity in your local picture palace before the year is out instead.
In the first trailer for the film, Glinda tells Elphaba "don't be afraid". "I'm not afraid," is the fellow witch's response. "It's the Wizard who should be afraid of me."
Wicked follows the Land of Oz's witches, with telling their untold tale the musical's whole angle. On the stage, the show has notched up more awards than you can fit in a hefty cauldron over the years. That includes three Tonys from ten nominations, a Grammy, an Olivier Award and six Drama Desk Awards.
Joining Grande and Erivo in bringing Wicked to the cinemas is quite the who's who-style cast. Michelle Yeoh (A Haunting in Venice), Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton), Ethan Slater (The Marvellous Mrs Maisel) and Bowen Yang (Saturday Night Live) also feature. And who else could play the Wizard of Oz but Jeff Goldblum (Asteroid City)?
As for when Wicked: Part Two will also get flickering, it's due in November 2025.
Check out the first trailer for Wicked: Part One below:
Wicked: Part One releases in cinemas Down Under on November 28, 2024.