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Wicked Part Two

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Wicked Part Two
Official logo
Directed byJon M. Chu
Screenplay byWinnie Holzman[a]
Dana Fox[1]
Based on
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyAlice Brooks
Edited byMyron Kerstein
Music by
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • November 21, 2025 (2025-11-21)
Country
  • United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$165 million

Wicked Part Two[2] is an upcoming American epic musical fantasy film directed by Jon M. Chu, and written by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox. The sequel to Wicked (2024), it is the second of a two-part film adaptation of the stage musical of the same name by Stephen Schwartz and Holzman, which in turn was based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Gregory Maguire and characters from L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The film stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, with Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode, Bowen Yang, Bronwyn James, Keala Settle, and Peter Dinklage in supporting roles. Set in the Land of Oz, before and after Dorothy Gale's arrival from Kansas, the plot will cover the events of the musical's second act, following Elphaba and Glinda's friendship being put to the test as they embrace their new respective identities as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch of the North, and how the consequences of their actions will change all of Oz forever.

Universal Pictures and Marc Platt, both of whom produced the stage musical, announced the film adaptation in 2012. After a long development and multiple delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Chu was hired to direct, with Erivo and Grande cast in their respective roles in 2021, along with the decision to split the film into two parts in order to meet the demands of the story's epic scope and to expand upon the journeys of and relationships between the characters without cutting any songs and major plot points. Principal photography on both films began in December 2022 in England, and was paused in July 2023 due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, eventually resuming then concluding in January 2024.

Wicked Part Two is set for release by Universal Pictures in the United States on November 21, 2025.

Cast

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The film stars Cynthia Erivo (left) as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda.

Additionally, Aaron Teoh will appear as Averic, Fiyero's friend; Grecia de la Paz will appear as Gilligan; Colin Michael Carmichael will appear as Professor Nikidik, a professor at Shiz University; and Adam James will appear as Glinda's father, another new character created for this film. The character Dorothy Gale, a Kansas farm girl who is accidentally transported to the Land of Oz by a tornado with her dog Toto, and the Cowardly Lion, who was saved by Elphaba and Fiyero from an in-class experiment at Shiz University when he was a Lion cub in the first film, will also be featured.[11]

Production

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Development

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Further information: Wicked (2024 film) § Development
Director Jon M. Chu (left) and composer Stephen Schwartz

A film adaptation for the Broadway musical Wicked was announced in 2012,[12] with a scheduled release date of December 20, 2019.[13] After numerous delays, the film eventually secured a release date of November 27, 2024.[14] In April 2022, director Jon M. Chu announced that the adaptation would be split in two parts, Wicked and Wicked Part Two, saying:

As we prepared the production over the last year, it became impossible to wrestle the story of 'Wicked' into a single film without doing some real damage to it ... As we tried to cut songs or trim characters, those decisions began to feel like fatal compromises to the source material that has entertained us all for so many years. We decided to give ourselves a bigger canvas and make not just one 'Wicked' movie but two! With more space, we can tell the story of 'Wicked' as it was meant to be told while bringing even more depth and surprise to the journeys for these beloved characters.[15]

Pre-production

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In June 2022, Stephen Schwartz added, while confirming that a new song will be written for one of the two films:[16]

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 ... 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. What we have discussed is that changes need to be 'additive,' to use (producer) Marc Platt's term. They need to add something to the story or the characters. They can't just be changes to do something different. I feel confident that by the time the movie is made, if we all continue to have the same degree of input, I could have a conversation with anyone who has a question about any of the changes made from the stage show and justify why I think it's better for the movie.

In November 2022, Schwartz revealed that the film will include two new songs "to meet the demands of the storytelling."[17]

Filming

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Principal photography began alongside Part 1, and had nearly been completed by July 2023 before production was suspended due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.[18] Both films resumed production on January 24, 2024, and concluded filming on January 26.[19] The vocals of the actors during the musical numbers were recorded live on set, particularly at the insistence of Erivo and Grande, with Academy Award-winning production sound mixer Simon Hayes collaborating with Chu on the recordings of the actors' vocals, using a variation of the same recording techniques that were implemented on Les Misérables (2012).[20][19][21][22] Chu also cited Steven Spielberg's 1991 film Hook as a source of inspiration for the film's use of large-scale sets and practical effects to bring the many elements of the Land of Oz to life, including nine million colorful tulips planted on location to surround the Munchkinland set and an actual Yellow Brick Road paved on the ground with real mud.[23][24] Chu also cited the 1998 films Pleasantville and The Truman Show as influences on how both Wicked and Wicked Part Two thematically portray the Land of Oz, saying "It helps create this idea of the rebelliousness that this new younger generation are discovering ... How far will that take everybody in Oz throughout the course of the whole story of both movies? It's an awakening of a generation. You start to see the truth about things that maybe you were taught differently."[25]

Post-production and visual effects

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On February 6, 2024, it was confirmed on Twitter that Industrial Light & Magic and Framestore[26] will provide the film's visual effects with Pablo Helman serving as visual effects supervisor, and that post-production work was in progress, with Chu working remotely with editor Myron Kerstein via communication through the newly-released Apple Vision Pro.[27][28][29]

Music

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The soundtrack albums for both this film and Wicked will be released by Republic Records/Verve Label Group, Grande and Erivo's respective record labels. In July 2024, it was revealed that John Powell had composed the incidental underscore for the film, reprising his duties from the previous film.[30] Jeff Atmajian updated William David Brohn's original orchestrations for the songs and enlarged the orchestra from the stage version's original 23 musicians to 80 for the film. The musical's original music director Stephen Oremus will conduct the song cues, with Powell conducting the incidental score cues. Greg Wells, Oremus and Schwartz serve as music producers.[30][31][32][33]

Main and expected musical numbers

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  • "No One Mourns The Wicked" (Reprise) – Ozians
  • "Thank Goodness" – Glinda, Madame Morrible and Citizens of Oz
  • "The Wicked Witch of the East" – Elphaba, Nessarose and Boq
  • "Wonderful" – The Wizard and Elphaba
  • "I'm Not That Girl" (Reprise) – Glinda
  • "As Long As You're Mine" – Elphaba and Fiyero
  • "No Good Deed" – Elphaba
  • "March of the Witch Hunters" – Boq and Ozians
  • "For Good" – Elphaba and Glinda
  • "The Melting" – Ozians
  • "A Sentimental Man" (Reprise) — The Wizard
  • "Finale" – Glinda, Elphaba and Ozians

As previously reported, Stephen Schwartz revealed that two new songs were written for this film in order to meet the demands of the storytelling.[16]

Stage-to-screen changes

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Splitting the film adaptation into two parts gave the filmmakers the opportunity to dive deeper into the relationships between the characters and showcase scenes that were either newly created for the film or pulled directly from Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel and L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to bring the story full circle. The films will delve deeper into the two main characters of Elphaba and Glinda, allowing movie audiences to understand them better.[34]

Release

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Wicked Part Two is scheduled to be released theatrically, including engagements in RealD 3D, IMAX, Dolby Cinema, 4DX, ScreenX and D-Box on November 21, 2025, by Universal Pictures,[35] after previously being set for November 26, 2025, and December 25, 2025, before being moved up to avoid competition with Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash, respectively.[2]

Marketing

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Exclusive work-in-progress footage from both films in the two-part adaptation, including first listens to Grande and Erivo's respective renditions of "Popular" and "Defying Gravity", was presented at CinemaCon on April 26, 2023, introduced on stage by Universal Pictures chairwoman Donna Langley.[36] The first trailer for the first film, in the form of a 60 second "First Look," premiered during Super Bowl LVIII on February 11, 2024, showing brief clips from Part Two that confirmed that the film would contain new scenes to expand the plot of the musical's second act, including one of the Wizard ordering Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion to hunt down Elphaba, as depicted in the original The Wizard of Oz story.[37][11]

Notes

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  1. ^ Holzman is credited twice for writing the screenplay; first as a solo writer and as part of a writing team with Dana Fox.

References

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  1. ^ "Wicked". directories.wga.org. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Kroll, Justin (June 20, 2023). "Wicked Part Two From Universal And Jon Chu Moves Up A Month To Thanksgiving 2025". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
  3. ^ a b Shaffer, Ellise; Donnelly, Matt (November 4, 2021). "Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo to Star in 'Wicked' Musical for Universal". Variety. Archived from the original on June 15, 2022. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c Jackson, Angelique (December 7, 2022). "Wicked Movie Casts Ethan Slater Opposite Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on December 13, 2022. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  5. ^ Malkin, Marc (December 8, 2022). "Michelle Yeoh to Star in Wicked Movies as Madame Morrible (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on February 15, 2023. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  6. ^ Laudenbach, Sarah (December 10, 2022). "Jeff Goldblum Confirmed As Wicked's Wizard Of Oz In Exciting Movie Update". Screen Rant. Retrieved October 2, 2023.
  7. ^ Malkin, Marc (September 21, 2022). "Jonathan Bailey Joins 'Wicked' Movies as Fiyero (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on February 15, 2023. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
  8. ^ https://www.eonline.com/news/1393704/ariana-grande-and-ethan-slater-hold-hands-while-taking-their-love-from-emerald-city-to-new-york-city
  9. ^ a b c Kroll, Justin (December 9, 2022). "Wicked Adaptation At Universal Rounds Out Inclusive All-Star Cast With Marissa Bode, Bowen Yang and Bronwyn James". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 17, 2022. Retrieved December 9, 2022.
  10. ^ McClintock, Pamela (April 10, 2024). "'Wicked' Casts Peter Dinklage as Dr. Dillamond the Goat". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 10, 2024.
  11. ^ a b "'Deadpool 3', 'Twisters', 'Quiet Place: Day One', 'Inside Out 2' Among Potential Super Bowl Movie Spots". February 5, 2024.
  12. ^ WICKED Film to Enter Development 'Soon' Archived 2016-03-01 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved December 13, 2012
  13. ^ "Universal's 'Wicked' Movie Adaptation Gets December 2019 Release". Hollywood Reporter. June 16, 2016. Archived from the original on January 6, 2019. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  14. ^ Petski, Densie (March 14, 2023). "Universal Moves Up 'Wicked' Part 1 Release Date". Deadline. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  15. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (April 26, 2022). "Universal Releasing 'Wicked' Musical In Two Parts". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
  16. ^ a b Willman, Chris (June 28, 2022). "'Wicked' Songwriter Stephen Schwartz on Why the Movie Must Be a Two-Parter: Nothing Can Follow 'Defying Gravity'". Variety. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
  17. ^ Major, Michael. "Second WICKED Movie Will Include Two New Songs". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  18. ^ Thompson, Jaden (July 19, 2023). "Wicked Had 10 Days Left of Filming Before Strike Shut Down Production, Says Stephen Schwartz". Variety. Archived from the original on January 9, 2024. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  19. ^ a b Anderson, Jenna (January 27, 2024). "Wicked Movie Wraps Filming, Cynthia Erivo Shares Major Set Photo". Comicbook.com. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  20. ^ Rahbar, Sabba (January 24, 2024). "Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater Hold Hands While Taking Their Love From Emerald City to New York City". E! Online. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
  21. ^ Tinoco, Armando (January 27, 2024). "'Wicked' Musical Adaptation Wraps Filming: Ariana Grande & Director Jon M. Chu Share Emotional Messages". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  22. ^ "Wicked The Movies: What we know so far". westendtheatre.com. March 15, 2023. Retrieved February 10, 2024.
  23. ^ Murphy, Chris (March 21, 2024). "Inside 'Wicked': Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo Talk Glinda and Elphaba". Vanity Fair. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  24. ^ Schreur, Brandon (March 21, 2024). "Wicked Director Talks Realistic Sets, Modeling Movie After Steven Spielberg's Hook". ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  25. ^ "How Fantasy Epic Wicked Unexpectedly Channels... The Truman Show and Pleasantville?!". SYFY Official Site. September 23, 2024. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
  26. ^ Frei, Vincent (February 12, 2024). "Wicked Part One". The Art of VFX (in French). Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  27. ^ Jon M. Chu [@jonmchu] (February 6, 2024). "Next up: remote VFX review meeting with @ILMVFX … should I show up with my Persona? A full on digital recreation of me (with slight uncanny valley) giving notes on getting rid of uncanny valley on digitial creatures? This might be too much 🤣 #VisionPro #Wicked" (Tweet). Retrieved June 1, 2024 – via Twitter.
  28. ^ Jon M. Chu [@jonmchu] (February 6, 2024). "Day 3 with the @Apple #VisionPro … I got stuck at the house because of the LA floods so I couldn't go into the edit room. So I edited #WickedMovie remotely with my editor #MyronKerstein on @EvercastUS and it worked flawlessly. I need to repeat this out loud. I was in it for HOURS editing on a virtual giant screen (the size of a real movie screen) a major motion picture from the comfort of my house. With no headache. I can't tell you what a revelation this was. This is big stakes cutting edge productivity work that is available to use today! I am still shook. I don't think people fully realize the amount of workflow breakthroughs I think the VisionPro will lead to. This is not an ad. Just me being excited about technology and creativity. Hail to the nerds and artists" (Tweet). Retrieved June 1, 2024 – via Twitter.
  29. ^ Frei, Vincent (November 2, 2023). "Killers of the Flower Moon: Pablo Helman – Production VFX Supervisor – ILM". The Art of VFX (in French). Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  30. ^ a b "John Powell Scoring Jon M. Chu's 'Wicked'". Film Music Reporter. July 3, 2024. Retrieved July 3, 2024.
  31. ^ Sharpe, Josh (July 8, 2024). "John Powell Scoring WICKED Movie With Stephen Schwartz". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  32. ^ Giere, Carol de. "The Schwartz Scene updates on the Wicked Soundtrack from Stephen Schwartz". The Schwartz Scene. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  33. ^ Sharpe, Josh (September 5, 2024). "WICKED Movie Soundtrack Release Date Revealed; Pre-Save the Music Now". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  34. ^ Entwistle, Brady (March 6, 2023). "One Way The Wicked Movie Will Be Different From Broadway Show". ScreenRant. Retrieved September 24, 2024.
  35. ^ Shanfeld, Ethan (September 12, 2024). "'Wicked 2' Moves Up 2025 Release Date, Will No Longer Open Against 'Zootopia 2'". Variety. Retrieved September 12, 2024.
  36. ^ "'Wicked' defies gravity with surprise footage reveal at CinemaCon". Entertainment Weekly.
  37. ^ "Super Bowl Movie Trailers: 'Deadpool 3,' 'Wicked' and 'Quiet Place' Prequel Spots Poised to Dominate Big Game". February 5, 2024.
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