Wicked Movie Footage Premieres at CinemaCon

The long-awaited Wicked film is currently in production and director Jon M. Chu shared a first look at Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba earlier this month. This week, CinemaCon kicked off in Las Vegas, and movie fans have gotten updates about some of the most-anticipated movies ranging from James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 to Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. Yesterday, Universal shared the first-ever footage from Wicked at CinemaCon, giving audience members a chance to hear Erivo and Grande sing some of the show’s most iconic songs. According to Variety, “Defying Gravity” and “Popular” played during “dazzling, magical footage.”

Variety shared a breakdown of the Wicked footage, saying it began with Michelle Yeoh’s Madame Morrible as she helps Elphaba control her gift. “Once you learn to harness your emotions, the sky is the limit,” Morrible says in the footage. They go on to say the featurette “gives a sense of the sweeping, brightly lit set,” which will please fans who were concerned about the dim lighting seen in the original images shared by Chu. 

The footage also included a look at Shiz University and the iconic moment when Elphaba meets Glinda (aka Galinda), who gives her new roommate the iconic black hat. The trailer also featured a first look at Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard and features some highlights of Glinda and Elphaba’s friendship. 

There’s some dialogue from the Broadway show: “Pink goes good with green,” Glinda tells Elphaba as she puts a flower behind her ear. “Look at you, you’re beautiful.” Elphaba replies, “You really don’t have to do that.” Glinda adds, “I know. That’s what makes me so nice.”

“Wicked is about change, and it’s necessary for things to get better,” Chu said in the video footage. The director shared that Grande will “leave you breathless” and Erivo will “break your heart.”

When Is Wicked Being Released?

Wicked: Part One is coming to theaters on Thanksgiving 2024. Wicked: Part: Two is scheduled to be released on December 25th, 2025. Last year, Chu explained why movie would be released in two parts. 

“Here’s what happened: 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,” Chu wrote in a statement. “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.”

Are you excited about the Wicked movie? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!