Over the past 21 years, Wicked has shown the world its impact on the Broadway stage, the West End Stage, national and world tours, and now the big screen. The Wicked part one trailer premiered on February 11 during Super Bowl LVIII. The movie will release in theaters on Nov. 27, 2024, the same day as the highly anticipated Moana 2 film.
Although it was speculated that the trailer would be released during the Super Bowl, it was not confirmed by director Jon Chu who did post on social media hours before the event but still did not confirm the trailer’s release. The trailer featured Ariana Grande as Glinda, the good witch, and Cynthia Eviro as Elphaba Thropp as its main characters. Michelle Yeoh was featured in the trailer as Madame Morrible, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Ethan Slater as Boq, and Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard.
The Tony-winning musical Wicked originally premiered on Broadway in 2003 with Broadway legends Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenowith leading the cast. Ticket sales soared and the musical continues to be one of the most popular musicals. Between the fun and bubbly musical number “Popular” and the insanely powerful “Defying Gravity” this musical does not disappoint. The newly released trailer did feature snippets of Eviro’s rendition of “Defying Gravity” for fans to obsess over until the musical is released next fall.
Wicked is a broadway musical based off of the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire. The musical follows Glinda, later known as the good witch and Elphaba who later becomes known as The Wicked Witch of the West through their journey of friendship in the land of Oz. The musical takes place long before Dorothy lands in Oz from Kansas and either character becomes who they are in the movie The Wizard of Oz.
Despite its 2024 release, the movie has been in the works since 2012 although cast members were hired years later with a budget of around $150 million. Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the music for the Broadway musical and for many other musicals has returned to help adapt the songs to the movie. Schwartz has also confirmed that the new movie will also feature new songs.
Earlier, the film’s director, Jon Chu, announced the film would be split into two parts in order to maintain the original plot and explore more of the friendship between Elphaba and Glinda. The film did experience multiple delays pushing the film’s release to fall of 2024. The second part will be released a year later, the anticipated date is Nov. 26, 2025.
