Your first pictures of Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in Wicked are here!
We all know by now that the Wicked movie has been given the green light (yay!), and that the leads have already been cast - Ariana Grande will be portraying the character of Glinda the Good Witch, and Cynthia Erivo will be playing Elphaba aka the Wicked Witch of the West. While the news of the film has been pretty public for some time now, we're slowly getting more and more details about the adaptation. Exciting!
So, while we *impatiently* wait for what's probably going to be one of the biggest movies around when it's released, let's recap on what we know about it so far. Here's everything you need to know about Wicked, including cast updates, release date, filming schedules and more...
Do we have any pictures from Wicked yet?
On 16th April 2023, Wicked revealed our first look at Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in character for their upcoming roles. And fans are OBSESSED. Here's Cynthia as the Wicked Witch of the West:
And Ariana as Glinda the Good Witch:
Fans in the comments went wild for the pics. "Best movie of 2024 incoming," one person said, while another put, "Can November 2024 can come faster please???? 🥹💗🫧" Others added, "GALINDA GRANDE!!!! 🫧💙💕💕💕" and "THIS IS NOT A DRILL."
When did filming for Wicked begin?
According to Entertainment Tonight, rehearsals for the film started in July 2022. Speaking directly with the publication, Erivo said: "We go into rehearsals in July, and then it's off to the races. It's starting, people!"
And per the Hollywood Reporter, they revealed that filming was supposed to take place in Atlanta, but has since been relocated to the newly built Universal Sky Studios in Elstree. Hopefully we'll be seeing Ari and Cynthia out and about in London together!
Ariana Grande later shared an update with fans in April 2023, adding that they were about halfway through filming. July to April for half a shoot?! Wow.
Posting a picture of herself underneath a rainbow, Ariana paid tribute to Cynthia, calling her her "twin flame" and shared her thanks to Jon M. Chu, the film's director.
She said:
"halfway. Savouring every millisecond left with my Galinda (although she’ll be with me irrevocably, forever). she shows me so many new things every day. I am so grateful, I don’t know what to do or say… to be here in Oz where everyday is a life changing one… to be feeling, learning and growing so much at such a disarming speed… to feel so much love around me, to begin each day before the sun is up and to end after it sets…
"To hold my brilliant twin flame / sister Cynthia’s beautiful, green hands every day… to work in the safest, most beautiful and loving, biggest-yet-most-intimate/tiny-feeling spaces… to be lead by thee most thoughtful, brilliant, compassionate and warmest possible director on this planet, my other Ozian best friend ever Jon...to be transforming and healing parts of me that i never knew needed it. or maybe did."
Ariana also added she didn't wanting the filming experience to end. Whilst we're loving her feels for the filming process, we're also very excited for the day filming is over, as that means we're one step closer to watching Wicked!
Who will star in the Wicked movie?
OK, so we already know Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo have bagged the main roles of Glinda and Elphaba, and Ariana just shared some cute, behind the scenes pictures from set of her and Cynthia on Instagram. And they look SO good!
Alongside these two, we have the exciting news that Bridgerton's Jonathan Bailey will play Fiyero, Elphaba's love interest. Recently confirming the news, director Jon M. Chu tweeted: "He’s perfect, they’re perfect. They’d be perfect together. Born to be forever….. I am too excited to pretend this hasn’t been happening. We have a Fiyero!!!! #JonathanBailey #Wicked."
He’s perfect, they’re perfect. They’d be perfect together. Born to be forever….. I am too excited to pretend this hasn’t been happening. We have a Fiyero!!!! #JonathanBailey #Wicked https://t.co/meT51cGqDe
— Jon M. Chu (@jonmchu) September 21, 2022
Also joining the cast will be Jeff Goldblum as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible. Talk about an iconic cast.
When will Wicked be released?
Are you ready for this one? OK, so, Wicked was originally meant to be released on the 22nd of December 2021, but due to production delays related to COVID-19, everything was pushed back.
However, we now have an official confirmation date of when the film will be released - 27th November 2024. Ahhh!!! Can 2024 hurry up please? Ariana Grande shared the exciting news with a post on her Instagram where she shared the date and added a number of bubble emojis.
And back in April 2022, Chu released a statement that revealed there'll be not one Wicked movie, but two. Yep, you heard it right the first time! Explaining that they'll be released "on successive Christmas holidays beginning December 2024," he also wrote: "Here's what happened: as we prepared this production over the last year, it became increasingly clear that it would be impossible to wrestle the story of WICKED into a single film without doing some real damage to it."
"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," he continued. "So we decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one WICKED movie but TWO!!!! With more space, we can tell the story of WICKED as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprises to the journeys of these beloved characters."
Special #Wicked Movie Announcement… ✌🏼🎬🧹🌸💚sent from my OzPhone: pic.twitter.com/4qPpvVD4rR
— Jon M. Chu (@jonmchu) April 26, 2022
We now know we'll be getting the first movie slightly earlier than December 2024.
Who is directing the Wicked movie?
As just mentioned, Jon M. Chu will be directing the film adaptation of Wicked. While it was originally meant to be Tony Award-winner Stephen Daldry, Chu took over the role after Daldry officially stepped down from the production in 2020.
Chu's credits include Crazy Rich Asians and Broadway's film adaptation of In the Heights. He'll also be joined by some of the people from the original Wicked Broadway musical, most notably Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman, who co-wrote the music and lyrics. They're reportedly adapting the screenplay, while Marc Platt will produce.
Is there a Wicked trailer yet?
Sadly no news on a trailer from the Wicked HQ yet, but we're counting on the cast to share updates on their social media from time to time. Fingers crossed!
Will it be different from the musical?
We can confirm that the Wicked movie will be slightly different to the Broadway musical. Talking on the red carpet at the 2022 SAG Awards, Erivo also told ET: "I think it's going to be unlike anything you've ever seen before. I think we're going to enjoy the magic of it. We're going to try and put our own spin on what we know already and show you a story about two women [who] are sisters."
OK, it's *official* - 2024 can't come quick enough.
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