Movie musicals have won Best Picture before, so its a genre that’s known for having great success. While we’e seen some offbeat musicals get their own film, the Jon M. Chu‘s Wicked is adapting a beloved blockbuster show. Some fans online are not happy about Wicked getting two movies. And here’s why I think they’re totally wrong.
What we know about Wicked is fairly extensive, given that it’s going to adapt the stage musical of the same name for film(s). The first movie recently release its track list, revealing that not one song from Stephen Schwartz’s musical has been cut for the film version. And as a fan that’s all the proof I needed that the two film strategy was the right one.
When most musicals get movies, they have to sacrifice songs in order to keep its runtime down to a film length. Jon M. Chu’s In The Heights movie cut big tracks like “Sunrise” and “Inutil”, so the dismay of fans. I assumed that Wicked was going to do the same thing… until it became clear that were getting two different films.
Wicked‘s trailers have featured clips from bangers like “Popular” and “Defying Gravity”, but there are really no skips in the beloved Broadway musical. In fact, it contains some of the most romantic musical lyrics in theater history. And if the track list for the first movie is to be believed, then we shouldn’t expect any major numbers to end up on the cutting room floor.
When the Wicked film adaptation was first announced, I had some concerns. Specifically that the story and songs surrounding supporting characters like Nessarose and Boq might end up being cut. Nessa’s big Act 2 song “The Wicked Witch of The East” is already noticeably missing from the Original Broadway Cast recording, and I didn’t want the same fate to plague the movie. While the second Wicked‘s songs haven’t been revealed, it seems like Chu isn’t keen on deleting any songs.
In fact, the runtime of the 160-minute runtime of first Wicked movie seems to indicate that the film has actually expanded and added to the musical’s first act, rather than cutting material. This should likely be a relief for most moviegoers, as the pace of the stage show is rather quick, servicing a ton of characters in a relatively short period of time. Add in the fact that years of time pass between acts of the story, and having tow different movies makes a great deal of sense.
Obviously Universal took a risk splitting Wicked into two movies. After all, if the first one bombs, it’s too late to cancel the already-filmed sequel. We’ll have to wait and see how the musical blockbuster performs when it hits theaters November 22nd. For now, heck the 2025 movie release dates.