If you are unaware, Wicked or Wicked: Part One is an upcoming epic musical fantasy film directed by Jon M. Chu from a screenplay by Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz. It is going to be the first of a two-part film adaptation of their stage musical of the same name, which is in turn based on the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire. The film will showcase the story of how a green-skinned woman framed by the Wizard of Oz becomes the Wicked Witch of the West. It is all set to release next year and today, we have some major updates for the film!
Wicked Movie Footage Leaked Description
As you may know, CinemaCon 2023 has officially begun and Universal panel took the main stage on Wednesday. The attendees were showered with load of updates about upcoming Universal projects like Fast X footage, The Exorcist: Believer trailer, Kung Fu Panda 4 info, Oppenheimer footage, and much more. Among all this, fans were also given a new footage for Wicked which is still pretty much in the early phases of production.
The footage was basically a behind-the-scenes sizzle reel of director John M. Chu’s cinematic adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Wicked. The reel gave attendees a sense of the film’s humongous scale, with large immersive practical sets and stages being used in full force and a saturated color palette. In terms of the production design, Wicked footage was said to be accurate to the classic The Wizard of Oz. The entire cast ensemble was seen in their various incredible costumes and make-up.
The footage included BTS shots of Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba Thropp, Ariana Grande as Glinda Upland, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero Tigelaar, Jeff Goldblum as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, and Bowen Yang as Pfannee. Throughout most of the reel, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo’s rendition of “Defying Gravity” could be heard and it sounded as powerful as fans would expect. Also, a major talking point of the footage was the dynamic between Glinda and Elphaba.
John M. Chu spoke highly of the film’s practicality, claiming that the crew planted 9 million real multi-colored tulips in one set that featured the expansive landscape of Oz. Early VFX of the flying monkeys was shown as well. Wicked is by far the biggest project John M. Chu has tackled so far in his career and judging from this sizzle reel, he seems to be up to the task and operating on a whole different level. One thing is for sure, fans of the musical will be happily satisfied at the very least with Universal’s big-screen adaptation. Although some may still have mixed thoughts on Wicked being split into two parts, the epic fantasy scale of this project could justify two films.
As of now we are looking for some footage leaks and we’ll post them separately as and when we find them, so stay tuned! Wicked is all set to release in theatres on 27th November 2024.
If you have any questions regarding Wicked, feel free to ask in the comments below and stay tuned. As usual, like, subscribe and share our articles as we here are trying to build a community of people High on Cinema!
