Wicked, the highly anticipated adaptation of the popular Broadway musical, is just about everywhere. The first half of the saga, released on November 22, made $114 million in its opening weekend domestically, and it has already generated some early Oscars buzz. Wicked: Part Two is set to premiere in November 2025.
Directed by Jon M. Chu, who also directed Crazy Rich Asians, the movie’s plot dives into the “true story” of Elphaba, the “Wicked Witch of the West,” and Glinda the “Good Witch,” reimagined from the classic book series and film The Wizard of Oz. It stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande as Elphaba and Glinda, respectively, along with Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum as other residents of the land of Oz.
From its backstory to its politics to understanding why fans are “holding space” for it, follow along here for everything you need to know about the film.
Wicked, the movie musical based on the beloved Broadway show of the same name, is one of the biggest hits of the year, opening at No. 1 in North America over the weekend and already generating some early Oscars buzz. Audiences came in prepared to love Wicked’s famous power ballads and girl power core, but one aspect of the story seems to have caught people by surprise: its somewhat clunky yet remarkably durable political allegory.
“I noticed that Elphaba is like Kamala Harris and the Wizard is like Donald Trump,” one fan posted on Reddit. “A charismatic leader who gaslights a community that this woman is wicked just because she’s standing up for a marginalized group of people in the society, how could that be [political]?” director John M. Chu joked.
Welcome to Know-It-All. In the age of intellectual property grabs, docudramas, and so very many sequels, it can be difficult to find a way into the complicated worlds we see on screen. In this series, Vox experts explain what you need to know to get into the latest hot release.
Like a friendship between a popular blonde princess and a dour lime-skinned outcast, the story of Wicked is a bit more complicated than it looks.
Over the past few years, the public has stopped treating movie press tours like marketing fluff and started treating them like reality shows. These often tedious stretches of talk-show appearances, red carpets, and press junkets that have been part of the Hollywood grind for decades are suddenly getting as much attention on social media as the films themselves, with the stars’ interactions being picked apart by fans.
Since the social media frenzy surrounding the 2022 film Don’t Worry Darling, press tours have become sites of intense speculation often translating to full-blown scandals, from affair speculation from Anyone but You fans to the persistent rumors of everyone versus Justin Baldoni on the set of It Ends With Us.
