Movie Of Hit Musical Wicked Confirmed And Aiming For 2016 Release

The hit musical ‘Wicked’ is to make its way to the big screen, it’s now confirmed.

Talk of the show being made into a film has been swirling around for some time, but now the movie’s producer Marc Platt – who was the original producer of the stage musical and has recently worked on big screen musical ‘Into The Woods’ starring Meryl Streep – has set a date for the production.

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It is slated for release in 2016, Platt told Film Divider, and also confirmed that ‘Billy Elliot’ helmsman Stephen Daldry (below) will direct.

“[A 2016 release date] is the goal, but I don’t know whether we’ll make that goal or not,” he said.

“We will make the movie, but like I said, the bar is really high. We’re going to scrutinise our work on the screenplay and our prep on the movie, and when we feel like it’s ready, okay.

“We’re not going to shoot a release date is what I’m saying. It’s in the works, it’s not in a rush.

“It took 27 years to make ‘Into the Woods’ into a film from its original stage production, and 30 years with Les Mis. Some things take time for a reason.”

The hit musical is based on the 1995 book ‘Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West’ by Gregory Maguire and has broken box office records around the world since it debuted in 2003.

Over two million people have seen it in its West End and Broadway incarnations, celebrating its tenth anniversary on Broadway last year.

The revisionist fairytale plot fills in the back story of the Wicked Witch of the West, named Elphaba, from ‘The Wizard of Oz’, painting her as a misunderstood anti-hero.

It follows Sam Raimi’s big screen take on the Oz stories of L. Frank Baum in 2013, where James Franco starred as Oscar Diggs, the man who would become the Wizard.

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Image credits: Universal/Reuters