The cult Broadway musical is adapted into two films. The first part is released in cinemas this Wednesday, December 4, 2024.
The success was immediate in the United States. Since its American release just in time for Thanksgiving, Wicked has established itself as a real cinema phenomenon at the end of 2024. Thanks to abundant promotion and marketing on social networks, the adaptation of the musical cult is enjoying great success in cinemas with 360 million dollars in global box office revenue in less than two weeks.
However, it is difficult to predict similar success in our regions, as Wicked is a production made for American audiences. It is in fact the adaptation of the cult Broadway musical, a prequel to Wizard of Oz. Created in 2003, this show received three Tony Awards and a Grammy Awards and became one of the great classics of American music. In 2019, it became the fifth most performed musical on New York Avenue, behind Cats and in front Les Miserables. Three years earlier, it had surpassed $1 billion in overall profits.
Wicked is very well known in the United States, who know the musical titles like the back of their hand (“Defying Gravity” remains the best known and a huge classic of the Broadway repertoire). However, it is less known in France. Let us recall that the story focuses on the youth of Glinda and Elphaba, the two witches encountered by Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. However, she strives to give a different point of view of the story: rivals before becoming friends, their relationship is undermined when the world decides that the first will be the Good Witch, and the other the Wicked Witch. .
The Broadway musical revealed true stars of the genre in the United States, Idina Menzel (who will give her voice to Elsa in “Liberated, Delivered”, the flagship title of The Snow Queen) and Kristin Chenoweth (At the White House, Glee). The challenge of the film directed by Jon M. Chu was to find performers capable of embodying the difficult repertoire of Wicked. They are Cynthia Erivo (Harriet) and Ariana Grande who have the difficult task of taking over.
In the United States, this first part of Wicked is already a box office and social media phenomenon. Spectators film themselves before and after the screening on TikTok, when they do not hesitate to film entire musical numbers or even sing during the screenings. Observers are already predicting a great success for the film at the Oscars, even if it means overshadowing other favorites like The Brutalist, Dune: Part Two Or Emilia Perez (the nominations will be known in January, before the ceremony scheduled for early March).
It’s difficult to predict what the film’s trajectory will be in France. The public will be able to form their own opinion on the musical phenomenon from this Wednesday, December 4. And if you are won over, know that the second part is already scheduled for release at the end of 2025.
Synopsis – In the Land of Oz, Elphaba, a young woman born with green skin, has extraordinary intelligence and magical talent and meets Glinda, a blonde, white and popular young woman. Their friendship is undermined when the world decides that one would be the Wicked Witch and the other the Good Witch.