Apparently, “Wicked” is going to be massive.
The upcoming two-part musical directed by Jon M. Chu (“In the Heights,” “Crazy Rich Asians”), has ‘Part One’ being released on November 22. The budget for this one, according to IMDb Pro, is said to be around $150 million.
It turns out that ‘Wicked,’ which had tickets go on sale earlier in the week, has nabbed the second best first-day ticket presales of 2024 on Fandango. That is the best possible news for Universal who have been marketing this movie like crazy. It could translate to a monstrous opening weekend.
In fact, Wicked’s presales numbers only trail “Deadpool & Wolverine” in first day sales in 2024. Also, it’s third all-time for a PG movie behind only “Frozen II” and “The Lion King” (2019). What we might have here is a potential monster blockbuster — who saw this coming?
A trailer was released in September, and I don’t think I’m the target audience for this one. To my eyes, at least, it played like bad camp, with terrible usage of green-screen. They also hid the fact that it’s a musical, instead opting to include an over-orchestrated score.
“Wicked” actually shares a release date with Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II” November 22, which has somewhat gained traction on social media with comparisons to last year’s Barbenheimer phenomenon. What will it be called? The consensus seems to be “Wickiator.” Just ask The San Francisco Chronicle, Rolling Stone, IGN, Vanity Fair and Polygon. They’re all in.
Chu’s film is an adaptation of Holzman and Schwartz's ultra popular Broadway musical of the same name, which used characters from “The Wizard of Oz.” The film version stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, with Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Yeoh in supporting roles.
“Wicked: Part One” is scheduled for release on November 22, 2024, while “Wicked: Part Two” will be released on November 26, 2025.