Wicked Movie Finally Gets Release Date, Set To Be Popular In 2019
Will they cast Adele Dazeem?
The long in-development movie adaptation of hit musical Wicked finally has a release date!
Universal Pictures have announced that the film will be released on December 20, 2019. It's been four years since Stephen Daldry came on-board to direct the film, and a seemingly endless wait for any sort of official news about when we could expect the movie.
It's great to hear that it is going ahead now, with Daldry (who directed Billy Elliot, and then took it to the stage) still attached to direct. Some of the brains behind the stage version are helping adapt the film too, with a screenplay from Winnie Holzman, who wrote the musical's book, and Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the music and lyrics, while Marc Platt is producing, having had the same role on the Broadway version.
The musical, itself based on Gregory Maguire's novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, has been a massive success since it debuted back in 2003, selling out constantly on both Broadway and the West End, and amassing over $4bn globally. A prequel to the Wizard of Oz, it tells the story of Elphaba and Glinda the Good, their meeting in college, and the former's eventual transformation into the Wicked Witch.
The music itself is rather fantastic, a great story accompanied with wonderful songs - including the hits Defying Gravity and Popular - so hopefully that can translate itself to a movie version. It may help that Platt actually envisioned it as a film before turning it into a musical. There's no word yet on casting, but unfortunately it's highly unlikely that Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth will be reprising their roles (though other roles for them would be a nice touch).
Are you excited for the Wicked movie? Who do you want to see cast? Let us know in the comments.