Took them long enough.
Good news for musical lovers; Broadway smash Wicked is finally going to be made into a film.
It feels like a long time coming, given the enduring success of the musical genre and music-focused movies – A Star Is Born and Bohemian Rhapsody both struck major chords with audiences last year – and the sheer popularity of the witch-themed epic.
Wicked first arrived all the way back in 2003, so, yeah, quite overdue for the Hollywood treatment.
On Friday, Universal Pictures made it official, announcing Stephen Daldry – of Billy Elliot fame – as director along with a release date of 22 December, 2021.
That’s still a long enough way away, so fans will need to remain patient. Sure, what’s another two years and 10 months, anyway?
For those not in the know, the award-winning Wicked is a reimagining of The Wizard of Oz and various texts associated with that story, only with even more colourful results.
The show has been seen by over 50 million people around the world and Universal are promising a “movie event that will change audiences for good” which is pretty big talk.
As is going up against James Cameron, with Wicked set to arrive on screens just five days after the release of Avatar 3.
Yes, Avatar 3. The second one lands the year before. Do you still care about the Na’vi and Pandora and unobtanium and all that?
As for Wicked, you can all but guarantee another gigantic success at the box office.
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