The ‘Wicked’ Movie This Way Comes To Theaters In December 2021
Wickedis defying gravity — and years of false starts — with an official release date. Universal has set theWickedrelease date for December 2021, finally bringing the hit musical to the big screen. The feature adaptation ofWinnie HolzmanandStephen Schwartz’s Tony Award-winning musical was originally set to fly into theaters in 2019, but its release date was taken over by Tom Hooper’sCats.
Universal has set the official release date forWickedforDecember 22, 2021, according toDeadline.Stephen Daldrydirects the feature adaptation of the musical created by Holzman with music and lyrics by Schwartz, itself based on the 1995 novel byGregory Maguire.
This will be three years after Universal’s original July 22, 2025 release date and five years after the studiofirst announcedthe feature adaptation of the beloved musical. The new release date will putWickedagainstAvatar 3,an untitled Disney live-action film, and an untitled Warner Bros. animated feature on the five-day Christmas weekend. But consideringWicked’s phenomenal popularity since the show first premiered on Broadway in 2003, Universal probably has little to worry about.
The wildly popular musical has seen an unbroken Broadway run since it premiered in 2003 and this year surpassedA Chorus Lineto become Broadway’s sixth-longest running show.Wickedhas spawned several international productions and garnered three Tony Awards and six Drama Desk Awards, while its original cast album received a Grammy Award. It’s a bonafide cultural landmark, and a movie adaptation was inevitable.
Loosely based on the dense but gripping novel by Maguire, theWickedmusical is a prequel to theWizard of Ozthat centers around the unlikely friendship between Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda the Good Witch. Their sweet and tender friendship anchors this story about political intrigue, and for which the casting is essential to making the movie work — though it’s sad that original Broadway cast members Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth won’t be likely to star. But with Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot)in the director’s chair andMarc Platt(Into the Woods, Bridge of Spies) producing, theWickedmovie seems like it’s in good hands.
