As a seasoned gamer and musical enthusiast who’s been through countless adaptations, I can confidently say that the skepticism surrounding Jon M. Chu’s Wicked is misplaced. The news of two movies initially gave me pause, but the track list for the first film has put my doubts to rest.
Musical films have previously won the Best Picture award, demonstrating their ability to achieve great success. While some unconventional musicals have been made into movies, Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of Wicked is based on a highly successful stage show. Some online fans are expressing displeasure that Wicked will be split across two films. However, I believe they are completely mistaken for the following reasons.
It’s widely understood that the upcoming film(s) of “Wicked” will be based on the stage musical with the same name, and given this context, the information we have about it is quite comprehensive. Interestingly, the track list for the first movie has just been released, and it shows that every single song from Stephen Schwartz’s musical will be included in the film version. As a fan, I found this to be a strong indication that the two-film strategy was indeed an astute decision.
In many cases, musicals lose their songs when they’re adapted into movies to ensure a suitable running time. Fans were disappointed when Jon M. Chu’s film adaptation of In The Heights trimmed major tracks such as “Sunrise” and “Inutil”. I initially thought that the movie version of Wicked would follow suit… but it turned out we are getting two separate films instead.
The trailers for “Wicked” show snippets of popular songs like “Popular” and “Defying Gravity”, but there isn’t a single forgettable moment in this cherished Broadway musical. In truth, it houses some of the most enchanting romantic lyrics ever written for theater. Moreover, if the song list for the upcoming movie is accurate, then it seems that no significant numbers will be left out during editing.
Initially, when it was unveiled that the film version of “Wicked” was in production, I had apprehensions, particularly about potential cuts to the narrative and melodies associated with characters such as Nessarose and Boq. The song “The Wicked Witch of The East,” a significant number for Nessa in Act 2, is conspicuously absent from the original Broadway cast recording, and I feared it might suffer a similar fate in the movie. However, since we haven’t heard the songs from the upcoming “Wicked” yet, director Chu appears to be inclined against removing any tunes altogether.
It appears that the first “Wicked” movie, with its 160-minute runtime, seems to suggest that it has extended and enriched the musical’s initial act rather than reducing content. This is likely good news for viewers, as the stage production moves at a brisk pace, juggling many characters in a short timeframe. Moreover, given that significant periods elapse between acts in the storyline, having two films to tell the tale seems quite logical.
It’s clear that Universal made a bold decision in splitting the “Wicked” movie into two parts. If the first one doesn’t do well at the box office, they would already have filmed the sequel, leaving them with no choice but to release it. We’ll have to keep our fingers crossed and see how this musical blockbuster fares when it hits cinemas on November 22nd. For now, let’s put off speculating about its 2025 release dates until we have a better idea of its success.
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2024-11-13 22:08