22, 2021, and the previous director, Stephen Daldry left in 2020 due to scheduling conflicts.

COVID-19 production shutdowns delayed the original set release date of Dec. In development since 2004, bringing the project to film has not been without its snags. The two upcoming films will make all that clear in great detail.

Needless to say, all the Oz fans know that something obviously went wrong regarding the friendship between Glinda (formerly known as Galinda) and Elphaba with the latter’s fall from grace ultimately ending with a house dropping on her. Frank Baum novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Wicked is based on the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which is based on the classic 1900 L.

In the prequel that tells the story of what happened before the gingham-clad Dorothy landed on the land of Oz, Grande will play the role of Glinda (the Good Witch) while Erivo (the Wicked Witch of the West) will strap on her broom as Elphaba, two unlikely friends who journey to the Emerald City. Marc Platt, who produced the Broadway musical, will also produce the film. Written by Winnie Holzman and score by Stephen Schwartz, the original production won three Tony Awards, including Best Actress in a Musical for Idina Menzel. In production since 2003, the play is the 11th longest-running Broadway show of all time. “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.”

“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,” Chu wrote on Twitter. Chu, the film director for Wicked, recently announced that it would be “impossible to wrestle” the story of Wicked into a single movie. The first film is set for release Christmas 2024, and the second to premiere the following Christmas of 2025. Wicked, based on the 2-hour and 45-minute hit stage musical and adapted from the novel by George Maguire, will be made into a two-part movie and will star Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.

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