The fantasy musical “Wicked” will soon delight us in the cinema. It is already clear that a lot of film fans will go into the world of the Wizard of Oz – so many that there is even talk of a new Barbenheimer.
Universal Pictures
The fantasy musical “The Wizard of Oz,” based on a children’s book of the same name, is one of the great classics in cinema history. In the mid-1990s, author Gregory Maguire wrote a prequel novel. From 2003 onwards it became a huge Broadway musical success as “Wicked – The Witches of Oz” and also conquered German stages. Now it’s back to the cinema. Successful “Crazy Rich” director Jon M. Chu staged “Wicked” as a two-parter, which, like the model “The Wizard of Oz,” is aimed at the entire family, from children to parents to grandparents.
The premiere will be with “Wicked” in German cinemas from December 12, 2024. It already seems clear that the screen musical, starring Cynthia Erivo and music mega-star Ariana Grande, will be a gigantic blockbuster success.
Big crowd at the start of advance sales for “Wicked”
Nowadays there are no longer long queues around the block in front of the cinema box office. But what just happened virtually is the opposite of the long queues in front of the cinema box office when advance sales started. Because The start of online ticket purchasing in the USA was eagerly awaited… and snapped up immediately.
“Wicked” has already recorded extraordinary figures. The largest and well-known US online ticket retailer Fandango reports, that in the entire year of 2024 there was only one film with higher demand so early: on Deadpool & Wolverine.
A record has already been broken: In 2024, no film for the whole family has sold as many tickets on the first day of advance sales as “Wicked”. In the entire history of Fandango, the pre-sales day one result of “Wicked” has only been exceeded by two titles with the US PG rating, which allows young and old to go to the cinema: “Frozen 2” and “ The Lion King remake.
Is a new Barbenheimer awaiting us?
“Wicked” opens in the USA on November 22, 2024. It is still too early to make reliable predictions as to how successful the film will be at the start. However, many are already expecting that the $145 million fantasy musical will open on the first weekend with revenues of over $100 million in the USA alone and will therefore be a huge success.
Some people in the industry are already talking about a new Barbenheimer – in memory of the record summer of 2023, when “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” were released at the same time. Because in North America, another cinema heavyweight, “Gladiator II”, will be released parallel to “Wicked” on November 22, 2024. Here too, there are high hopes for outstanding box office numbers. There is also a high degree of optimism that both films will find their audience side by side and will not compete too much with each other.
But this time it wouldn’t be a worldwide phenomenon. As already written, “Wicked” will only be released in Germany several weeks later. Ridley Scott’s epic sequel, on the other hand, will be released earlier than in the USA (from November 14th), so that the film releases here are around a month apart.
That’s what “Wicked” is about
Before the events in “The Wizard of Oz,” we get to know two different witches in “Wicked”: the beautiful Glinda (Ariana Grande), who is loved by everyone, and Elphaba (Cytnhia Erivo), who is always reviled because of her green skin color. Despite their differences, they become best friends at the witch school. But they soon end up in an adventure that leads them to the powerful Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum)…
As already mentioned, Jon M. Chu is responsible for the two-parter. “Wicked – Part 2” will follow in around a year. The cinema release is November 20, 2025. But here is a trailer for the soon-to-be-released first film:
