(THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR WICKED)
Who said musical movies don’t work in theaters? Wicked has made the leap from Broadway to the screen to demonstrate that, if done well, a film of the genre can convince critics (here you can read ours) and audience and, in the process, become one of the blockbusters of the year.
The film adaptation of the play that has been triumphing on stage for decades takes us to Shiz University, where Glinda (Ariana Grande), future Good Witch of the North, and Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), who will be the Wicked Witch of the West, share a room. At first they detest each other: one, so capricious and prejudiced; the other, so green and applied.
However, their enmity finally leads to a beautiful friendship that leads them to share a decisive journey so that Elphaba meets the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) in the Emerald City.
This film is just the first part of the story covering Elphaba’s journey on Broadway. Following the example of the play, the director Jon M. Chu and his team have decided to divide the story into two parts and the second installment, which covers the last act, will be released on November 25, 2025.
Why ‘Wicked’ doesn’t have ‘Part 1’ in the title
Some spectators who have gone to see Wicked This weekend they left the theaters confused by their ending. What is this about Elphaba’s story continuing? Isn’t this the complete work? If so, why have they omitted ‘Part 1’ in the title? In an interview for Gizmodo, director Jon M. Chu has responded to this last question.
Chu does not consider that they have hidden that Wicked It lands in the rooms divided in two. He himself confirmed in 2022 that the work would be released as two films, respecting the division that Stephen Schwartz made in the Broadway musical. “I think we made it pretty clear that there are two parts from the beginning,” he assured, referring to his post two years ago.
“I made a statement, I did all that, everyone reacted,” he recalled: “I knew it was going to provoke a certain reaction. But I also knew that when you saw it in its entirety, it was very clear. There was no doubt. Or it’s not Wicked and you kill all those songs, or you change the story so much that it’s not going to be the Wicked what do you want”.
“I knew we were making the right decision, so we went ahead and marketed… I don’t know how they do it. But I understood the decisions they made,” he added, alluding to the option to remove ‘Part 1’ of the title. It should be noted that the second installment, which arrives next year, will be titled Wicked: Part 2.
The mistake of ‘Wicked: Part 2’: the danger of division
Wicked: Part 2, which will arrive in theaters on November 25, 2025, has been filmed simultaneously with the first installment and addresses the last act of Elphaba’s story, which connects with The Wizard of Oz and even picks up briefly after Dorothy’s adventure.
(SPOILERS BELOW FOR WICKED AND ITS SEQUEL)
But let’s go in parts: the first film explores the origin story of Elphaba, marginalized since she was little because of her green skin, who arrives at Shiz University to learn to master her powers with the help of director Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). . His relationship with Glinda is hatred at first sight until they both manage to overcome the differences that separate them and create a beautiful friendship.
With Glinda’s support, the protagonist finds her place in Shiz: she fights for the rights of talking animals, gets dangerously close to the prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), Glinda’s partner, and his progress in magic earns him a trip to the Emerald City to meet his admired Wizard.
The young woman’s magic arouses the sorcerer’s interest, especially after she is able to read his grimoire and turn his monkeys into winged monkeys. Everything goes wrong when the protagonist discovers that the Wizard, actually a fraud without any power, intends to use his gift to dominate Oz and destroy the talking animals.
To the sound of Defying Gravity, Elphaba manages to flee to the West on a Scope while Madame Morrible and the Wizard proclaim her a villain before the citizens of Oz, giving rise to the legend of the Wicked Witch of the West. Glinda, for her part, seems to have allied herself with her admired Morrible, although this is not the end.
The second film faces a major challenge: matching the good reception of the first installment with a less powerful story. The plot begins a few years after the end of the first film, with Glinda serving as the Wizard’s spokesperson and Fiyero leading the forces hunting Elphaba. The protagonist tries to protect the animals and people of Oz, but when her sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode) the Wicked Witch of the East, is overwhelmed by Dorothy’s house, embraces all her evil.
Although this second installment is the one that connects with The Wizard of Oz and makes the protagonists of the first characters we meet on that walk along the yellow brick road, it is a shorter and less epic story than the one that has brought us here.
In theater, the division makes sense; The second act is always shorter and closes a journey that we started just a few hours before. However, in theaters, this second act arrives a year after the first, with a dangerously tempting story to be stretched and less spectacular musical numbers. Yes, it has great songs like For Good, but none equals Defying Gravity, Popular either The Wizard and I.
Chu has given us plenty of reasons to trust him in Wicked: He is a director who admires and honors the work of Broadway, and knows how to take advantage of audiovisual media to benefit the story. With luck, Wicked: Part 2 It will be as enjoyable, moving and dancey as its predecessor, and no one will be disappointed or confused when the title makes it clear that it is a sequel.
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