The Wicked motion picture adaptation is still happening, but the production is so large that what was supposed to be a single film has now been split into two parts. The adaptation’s director Jon M. Chu issued a statement updating fans on the how and why of the decision.
From the info we spotted at Coming Soon, rather than trying to compress the world-building and all the songs into a single 2+ hour long movie, the filmmaker has decided that the film needed to be told via two films rather than one. Entirely understandable, given the amount that happens in the Wicked story, and would suffer quite a bit with significant cuts. Luckily the film is not getting pushed any further out than Christmas 2024. I would guess that Part 2 would follow three to six months after that.
According to Chu:
“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. So 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 of these beloved characters.”
Below is the statement in full:
The popular musical by Stephen Schwartz followed the same story for the most part, with the necessary artistic liberties taken to turn the 406-page fantasy into a two-and-a-half-hour musical. Wicked had its premiere in 2003 and has been on world tour ever since. Personally, I wish Chu and his crew were adapting the book rather than the musical, but I’m probably in the minority.
What do you think of Wicked, either the musical or the book? Let us know in the comments section below.
[Source: Coming Soon]
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