The songwriter behind Wicked explains the decision to split the upcoming film adaptation into two movies. Originating from the 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by author Gregory Maguire, the original Wicked show re-examines the classic Wizard of Oz story through the perspective of The Wicked Witch of the West. The musical version opened on Broadway in 2003 and became an instant success. In 2017, Wicked became the second highest-grossing musical on Broadway behind only The Lion King, so a movie adaptation quickly became a potentially lucrative idea.
After years spent in development limbo, Universal Pictures finally appears to be moving forward with its Wicked film adaptation. In The Heights director Jon M. Chu has been secured to helm the film. Cynthia Ervio was later cast in the role of Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch, and Ariana Grande as Galinda The Good Witch, in November 2021. In April 2022, Universal Pictures made the decision to split Wicked into two parts, with Part 1 set to open in theaters on Christmas 2024 and Part 2 one year later during Christmas 2025.
In an interview with the newsletter Schwartz Scene (via Variety), original Wicked composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz explained the decision to split the movie into two parts. It seems the decision came down to the song "Defying Gravity," as it ends Act 1 of the stage show. According to Schwartz, the film version could not find a proper way to follow this iconic song without feeling anti-climatic, indicating that Wicked Part 1 will end with the Defying Gravity scene. What's more, the writer said that there was simply too much story to fit into one film, saying:
“The truth is we tried for some time to make it one movie, even if it had to be one very long movie. But we kept running into two problems. The first is that even as a very long single movie, it required us cutting or omitting things that we wanted to include and that we think fans of the show and the story will appreciate. Secondly, we found it very difficult to get past ‘Defying Gravity’ without a break. That song is written specifically to bring a curtain down, and whatever scene to follow it without a break just seemed hugely anti-climactic. So, for these two reasons, plus the excitement of doing something that’s never been done before with a musical, we have decided to do two movies. Of course, when it’s all done, if it doesn’t work that way, we’ll have to figure something out. But we strongly believe that this is what’s best for our story, our show, and our fans.”
Interestingly, it appears the studio did not consider an intermission as per the original stage show. An 'intermission' in the middle of a feature has been used in previous films, namely during the 1950s and 1960s (like Ben-Hur or the musical Hello, Dolly!) but also in Quentin Tarantino's original cut of The Hateful Eight. Instead, the filmmakers have opted for the more modern and popular two-part release pattern seen with finales of the Harry Potter, Twilight, and Hunger Games franchises. Splitting the Wicked movie into two parts will also allow the filmmakers to keep scenes from the original play they did not want to cut, while also potentially adding moments from the original book, or creating entirely new scenes.
Universal is likely hoping that the two-part release strategy will help to increase its profits, giving them a popular film for two holiday seasons in a row. The studio has suffered two critical and financial musical disasters in recent years, with 2019's Cats, which took Wicked's original release date, and 2021's Dear Evan Hansen. The fact that Universal green-lit two Wicked films shows how confident the studio is in the material. While it is still two years until Part 1 opens in theaters, marking 21 years since Wicked opened on Broadway it has a chance of being one of the biggest films of the 2024 holiday season.
Source: The Schwartz Scene (via Variety)