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When it was first announced that Jon M. Chu, the director behind movies like "Crazy Rich Asians" and "In the Heights," would adapt Stephen Schwartz's hit Broadway musical "Wicked," news broke shortly thereafter that the movie would be split into two parts. On some level, it does make sense to split "Wicked" in half, giving it a cinematic two-act structure that mimics the stage version. With all of that said the movies were originally called "Wicked: Part One" and "Wicked: Part Two," and Part One soared into theaters in November 2024, crushing the box office and earning rave reviews from critics. Then, in December of that year, Chu revealed that the second part of the epic film will actually be called "Wicked: For Good," taking its title from an earnest duet sung by Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) and her best friend turned political enemy Glinda the Good Witch (Ariana Grande-Butera) in the show's second act.

Massive, massive spoilers for Act 2 of the Broadway musical "Wicked" — which is being adapted into "Wicked: For Good" — lie ahead! Stop reading if you want to avoid spoilers!

In the 1939 movie "The Wizard of Oz," Judy Garland's Dorothy Gale is flanked by three companions as she travels down the yellow brick road to meet the Wizard of Oz. These friends and protectors are known as the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr), the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), and the Tin Man (Jack Haley), and while Dorothy wants to ask the Wizard to send her home, the Lion, Scarecrow, and Tin Man have agendas of their own. The Lion wants to ask him for courage, the Scarecrow would really love a brain, and as for the Tin Man, he simply wants a working heart.

You're probably familiar with these characters because, well, "The Wizard of Oz" is one of the most famous movies...

The nominations for the upcoming Oscars 2025 aka 97th Academy Awards have finally been released, and they are as satisfying and baffling at the same time as ever. The nominees, for one, have shared their respective reactions to their nominations as well, including the likes of Sebastian Stan and Monica Barbaro, among others.

Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez. | Credits: A Complete Unknown / Searchlight Pictures

But while a lot of the nominations have left both the fans as well as the nominees happy, quite a few of them have left both fans and the nominees stunned because of the snubs. This includes Josh Brolin, who clearly isn’t okay with the Dune: Part 2 disaster since he has been expressing frustration about the same without hesitation.

Sebastian Stan and other stars share their reactions to Oscars’25 nominations

As the 97th Academy Awards draw closer, the nominees have shared their reactions to getting nominated.

Ariana Grande Oscar Nomination, Wicked Glinda (Photo Credit – Instagram)

Ariana Grande has officially joined the ranks of Academy Award nominees, securing her first-ever Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actress.

The 31-year-old singer and actress earned the nomination for her role as Glinda in Wicked, sharing the spotlight with other fellow nominees such as Monica Barbaro for ‘A Complete Unknown,’ Felicity Jones for ‘The Brutalist,’ Isabella Rossellini for ‘Conclave,’ and Zoe Saldaña for her role in ‘Emilia Pérez.’

Ariana Grande’s Emotional Celebration and Gratitude

Grande took to social media to express her heartfelt gratitude, sharing a nostalgic photo of herself as a child dressed like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz and an undated clip of her singing “Defying Gravity.”

“picking my head up in between sobs to say thank you so much to @theacademy for this unfathomable recognition. I cannot stop crying, to no one’s surprise,” Grande wrote...

This year’s Academy Awards season is set to become one of the most interesting and tightly contested seasons in the past few years. Everything from amazing biopics to genre roles has been delivered, and audiences have seen some amazing works from actresses within all categories.

It seems that besides showing the nominees’ performances and technicalities, the 2025 Oscar race is going to highlight their social and cultural influence and there will probably be some conversations that take place off the red carpet.

Demi Moore wins Best Female Actor for Musical/Comedy at Golden Globes 2025 | Credit: Golden Globes YouTube

The latest event of the Golden Globes has already created a sort of precedent. And as we get closer to the award night itself, the talk of who will win the golden statue is already rising. The line-up of this year’s race has industry veterans and new, ambitious faces. Let’s...

What's your favorite season? Why, Awards, of course! Yes, the time has come yet again for everyone to treat movies like sports. Who will win? Who will lose? We'll find out when the 97th Academy Awards are held on March 2, 2025! For now, though, we have the full list of Best Picture nominees to grapple with. As always, there are snubs and surprises, and I'm sure everyone has an opinion about what landed a nom and what got overlooked. For the purposes of this post, though, we're only looking at what we've been given: ten films from the year 2024. In the spirit of the season, we're ranking all ten Best Picture nominees from worst to best.

Read more: The 19 Greatest Movie Couples Of All Time Ranked

10. Emilia Pérez

If you've seen the viral clip of the song "La Vaginoplastia" making the rounds on social media, you already know that no other...

The Oscar nominations were tense as always, with many of the best actors alive going head-to-head for the biggest prizes. Names like Timothée Chalamet, Adrien Brody, and Edward Norton were called out as returning nominees. Meanwhile, Demi Moore, Mikey Madison, and Kieran Culkin were welcomed to the club. Below, we’ve ranked the performances of the 2025 Oscar nominees based on the quality of the performances.

20. Felicity Jones – The Brutalist 2025 Oscar Nominees Ranked

While the second half of The Brutalist certainly has its defenders, those who struggle with it can often point to Jones. The actress brings a very modern air to a period-set film. Additionally, she feels wrong in the role, overacting and pushing too far in several scenes. We like Jones well enough, but in The Brutalist it does not work.

19. Isabella Rossellini – Conclave 2025 Oscar Nominees Ranked

One of the most iconic movie stars of all time was the beneficiary of a weak lineup.

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They say the lights are always bright on Broadway, but from January 21 to February 9, we think they shine even brighter. That’s because for the 15th year in a row, Broadway Week is back — which means you can score 2-for-1 deals to the hottest tickets in town.

buy 2-for-1 tickets

Right now, 27 different shows are participating in the Bogo campaign — including contemporary productions like Sunset Blvd, & Juliet, Death Becomes Her,...

Stop your journey down the yellow brick road if you don't yet know the entire story of "Wicked" — there are spoilers ahead!

When we first meet Galinda Upland — played by pop star and actor Ariana Grande-Butera — in Jon M. Chu's epic musical adaptation "Wicked: Part One," she's a new student at Shiz University who's desperate to prove herself, especially to the school's Dean of Sorcery Madam Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). There's just one problem: Galinda doesn't have a particularly strong natural inclination towards sorcery or witchcraft, and to make matters worse, her new roommate, the green-skinned Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo), does possess an innate affinity for the magical arts.

So, what's the deal here? Why isn't Galinda, who ultimately restyles her name as Glinda, a naturally talented witch — and to that point, how does somebody who apparently can't perform magic become known as Glinda the Good Witch? (At the beginning of "Wicked: Part One,...

Two original songs will be added to Wicked: For Good, but these won't do much to level out this sequel's disadvantage. Director Jon M. Chu chose to split the Wicked musical into two parts for his on-screen adaptation, ensuring that every detail of Elphaba and Glinda's stories is done justice. While this proved to be an excellent choice for the first film, the second half, officially called Wicked: For Good, is at a bit of a disadvantage thanks to some differences in the Broadway musical's second act. The addition of new songs is promising, but there is one particular issue that this won't help.

Many of Wicked's most notable songs are in the Broadway show's first act. While there are certainly some bangers in Act 2, such as "No Good Deed" and "For Good," they pack a different sort of punch than "Defying Gravity" or "What Is This Feeling.

The new comedy One of Them Days, starring Keke Palmer and Sza, is now in theaters and getting incredible reviews.

In the new movies, best friends and roommates Dreux and Alyssa are about to have One of Them Days. When they discover Alyssa’s boyfriend has blown their rent money, the duo finds themselves going to extremes in a comical race against the clock to avoid eviction and keep their friendship intact.

Fans who are checking out the movie will likely want to know if they should stick around after the credits for an additional scene. Many movies these days, especially ones that are part of a franchise, will include extra footage at the end to tease future installments or to give audiences some bonus content.

So, do you need to stick around after One of Them Days?

Keep reading to find out if you need to wait for a post-credits scene…...

Keke Palmer has one of the most interesting takes on “Defying Gravity” from Wicked!

The 31-year-old actress said in a new interview that she thinks Elphaba’s big song is a “slave hymn.”

“Uh-aaahh-uh-aaahhahhhahhh!!” Keke said in a new MTV interview. “That’s a slave hymn.”

Keep reading to find out why she said that…

“Come on! When she got up there and she told those people! Y’all, it is really good,” Keke added. “Y’all know I ain’t lying.”

“You have got to save space for the lyrics of ‘Defying Gravity,’” she added, noting the viral interview with the movie’s stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.

Keke added, “That — it makes me feel like you can’t stop me! No one is gonna bring me down!” she professed.

Keke‘s One of Them Days co-star Sza and producer Issa Rae were shook by the comment. Watch below!

The fact that Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo sang live in Jon M. Chu’s Wicked has wowed fans (yes, Erivo belted while whizzing through the air during “Defying Gravity” and Grande didn’t rely on pre-records while swinging on a chandelier during “Popular”).

But allowing the film’s two leads to go live — on which Chu and the actors insisted to capture the spirit of the Broadway musical — took a village. The sound teams had to work with the choreographers, production designers, costume department and stunt teams, among others, to make sure that the microphones didn’t pick up any noise that would hinder a clear recording of the vocals.

“From the first moment Jon and I met on Zoom, he said, ‘I really feel like we have to go live, but I’m worried — I’ve got three cameras on cranes, some of the sets are 50 feet tall.

Jon M. Chu’s Wicked was among the most popular and acclaimed movies of 2024, and one of its clearest strengths as a musical is the rich, intricate dance numbers that constantly help push the story forward. There are eleven songs in total in Wicked, and each one serves a specific purpose regarding the characters and their respective journeys. Songs like “Popular” and “What Is This Feeling” help develop the dynamic between Elphaba and Glinda, while songs such as “One Short Day” and “Something Bad” expand the history of Oz and push the narrative forward.

The majority of these songs come with large-scale dance numbers that pay homage to the original stage musical while changing things slightly for a more cinematic experience. Chu does an excellent job of bringing a new life to these songs, referencing the source material through his choreography and even foreshadowing things that will happen in Wicked: For Good.

Exclusive: Wicked production sound mixer Simon Hayes says Cynthia Erivo, who plays Elphaba opposite Ariana Grande’s Glinda in the musical extravaganza, has the prowess of an Olympian, which enabled his team to achieve vastly more than they’d expected.

When Hayes and his unit were setting up microphones for the dynamic tour de force number “Defying Gravity” that sees Erivo soar away on a broomstick, they figured that the star would have to stop to catch her breath while doing somersaults for Universal’s hit picture.

Erivo had three microphones on her: a personal mic on the center of her forehead, another fixed on the brim of her hat and one placed on her costume.

“What we didn’t realize was that Cynthia would be able to do these gymnastic movements and still sing perfectly. It didn’t faze her in any way,” he marvels.

Related: Jon M. Chu...

Wicked director Jon M. Chu explained why the title of the upcoming sequel was changed. After the praise the first movie has received, anticipation is high for the upcoming Wicked: For Good. The sequel was originally simply titled Wicked: Part Two before the change. The follow-up will pick up not long after the ending of Wicked, and will once again star Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande-Butera, Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum. However, the reaction to the title change has been mixed, with some people not finding the appeal of the "For Good" part.

In an interview with Variety, Chu revealed that the subtitle "For Good" was always written in the script for the second Wicked movie. Therefore, the director explained that he and the producers had to decide whether they wanted the sequel to be called Wicked: Part Two. Ultimately, they decided to change the title. Chu believes that...

Jon M. Chu has insisted 'Wicked: For Good' was "always" the right name for his sequel.The 45-year-old director has opened about his decision to give 'Wicked: Part Two' a different name, which directly references the Broadway musical's penultimate song.Speaking to Variety at the National Board of Review Awards this week, he said: "Who wants a movie called ‘Wicked: Part Two’?“On the script, it always said, ‘For Good,’ and so it was just a point of like, ‘Do we really want to call this “Part Two”?’"And nobody wants that.”Chu - who has also helmed the likes of 'Crazy Rich Asians' and 'In The Heights' - insisted no other film titles were considered for the follow-up, which is coming to the big screen later this year.He added: "I mean, that’s the destination. ‘For Good,’ we know, is like, ‘Where are we going with this movie?...

The future of the Flying Monkeys is one of the biggest questions after the end of the first Wicked movie, and here is why they will start working for Elphaba in Wicked: For Good after being her enemies. The Flying Monkeys are one of the most famous pieces of iconography associated with the Wicked Witch of the West, with them constantly being by her side in most versions of The Wizard of Oz. However, by the time the first Wicked movie ends, they seem to still be fighting against her, with this change being a major story point in Wicked: For Good.

The first Wicked movie is only an adaptation of Act One of the incredibly popular Broadway musical, with the upcoming sequel Wicked: For Good set to adapt Act Two. At the end of the first Wicked movie, Elphaba has finally realized the evil plans of the Wizard and Madame Morrible,...

Few Broadway adaptations have been as hotly anticipated as Jon M. Chu’s ‘Wicked’ (2024). Starring powerhouse talents Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda, the film dives into the untold story of the witches of Oz, serving as both a prequel and a counter-narrative to ‘The Wizard of Oz’. With its enchanting melodies, dazzling choreography, and a devoted fanbase, ‘Wicked’ had all the ingredients to dominate the box offic and leave audiences spellbound. And while the film honors much of its source material, a few cracks in its broomstick keep it from flying as high as it could. Things to do: Subscribe to The Hollywood Insider’s YouTube Channel, by clicking here. Limited Time Offer – Free Subscription to The Hollywood Insider Click here to read more on The Hollywood Insider’s vision, values and mission statement here – Media has the responsibility to better our world – The Hollywood Insider...

Once again, the Golden Globes opened televised awards season in the run-up to a Donald Trump presidency. But this time, things looked a little different.

At the 2017 ceremony, for instance, Meryl Streep used her Cecil B. DeMille lifetime-achievement awards speech to decry the incoming President. A year later, following reporting around sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry, including and especially by Harvey Weinstein, the ceremony was half a rally to plan new ways of talking about power in Hollywood and half a funeral for the old ways; at least that’s how it looked at home, with every female nominee dressed in black.

None of the problems discussed onstage by Meryl Streep or by Oprah Winfrey in 2018 or any number of others have gone away, exactly. (Quite the opposite: The president that the #Resistance movement has spent eight years battling won the popular vote last year.) But, with a grin-and-bear-it sense of chagrin,...

At the age of 37, Cynthia Erivo has already had a richly varied career, winning a Tony, an Emmy and a Grammy and channeling Harriet Tubman in “Harriet” and Aretha Franklin in “Genius: Aretha.”

So why does it seem as if she might have been born to play the iconic Wicked Witch of the West in “Wicked,” Jon M. Chu’s musical movie adaptation of author Gregory Maguire’s 1995 “Wizard of Oz” prequel novel and its 2003 Broadway musical?

As Elphaba, the name the witch had before she became known simply as wicked, Erivo uses the film to take a dramatic turn that has landed her both at the top of the box-office charts and in the awards picture. Beyond her renditions of Stephen Schwartz’s beloved “Defying Gravity,” “The Wizard and I,” “I’m Not That Girl” and other numbers, she illuminates a richly textured emotional landscape within the west-bound witch everyone thinks they know.

Although most of Greg Wells’ professional life has involved producing or writing for big pop artists, he’s dedicated more of his time in recent years to working on films. Two and a half years, specifically (so far), as the music producer on both parts of “Wicked” — a job he describes as “Herculean” with very good quantitative as well as qualitative reason. It follows up his work as producer on the Grammy-winning No. 1 soundtrack for another full-on movie musical, “The Greatest Showman.” His classical and jazz training are coming in handy as he makes his name doing soundtracks that involve heavy orchestration as well as the ability to properly frame today’s top pop divas.

In this Variety Q&a, Wells goes into detail about why this project personally packs an emotional punch for him, his friendship of nearly 35 years with composer Stephen Schwartz, the back-and-forth processes that took two...

While the Wicked movie is an overall faith adaptation of the Broadway musical, the movie does make several effective changes. This faithfulness is one of the prominent reasons for Wicked's positive reviews, with director Jon M. Chu, stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande-Butera, and the entire cast and crew demonstrating significant respect and enthusiasm for the stage musical in their adaptation. This includes every Wicked song from the first act of the musical being featured in the movie.

Nevertheless, some changes were inevitable given the intrinsic differences in the artistic mediums of a stage musical and a feature-length movie. One of the most noticeable changes is the pacing of the songs, with "Defying Gravity" and other songs becoming much longer. Other changes were creative choices, nearly all of which enhanced the narrative, and helped set up Wicked: For Good's story ahead of its highly anticipated 2025 release.

Elphaba Is...

This week’s top pick, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, is likely to earn a Best Animated Feature nomination at the Oscars. But it likely won’t join its predecessor, 2005’s Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, in actually winning the award.

Pioneering “claymation” studio Aardman’s second Wallace & Gromit feature finds the innocent inventor and his more skeptical dog re-encountering the dastardly penguin thief Feathers McGraw, whose jewel heist they thwarted back in the 1993 short The Wrong Trousers. Imprisoned in a zoo ever since Wallace and Gromit stopped him, McGraw has come back for revenge. It’s a sequel 30 years in the making, and the whole family will love it. It’s now streaming on Netflix.

Here are some other movies to stream this weekend:

Wicked: There are technically higher-tier contenders now available to watch at home than Wallace & Gromit, but they’re only available on VOD,...

Exclusive: Unlimited is not just a melodic lyric used in one of the most iconic songs in Broadway history. It also reflects the determination of those in front of and behind the camera that brought Wicked’s pièce de résistance “Defying Gravity” to life onscreen.

The show-stopping battle cry is a declaration of self-acceptance from the witch Elphaba Thropp, played by Cynthia Erivo, after going through most of her life as an outcast. “We worked tirelessly to make ‘Defying Gravity’ feel like this gigantic set piece,” says editor Myron Kerstein. “We have the balloon and the flying monkey chase beforehand, and those scenes don’t need to be there, but it helps the audience, who may have expectations of where they’re going to go next, to sort of keep them on their feet and enjoy the ride.”

Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in ‘Wicked’

Originally unscripted and deterring from the stage version,...

Thank goodness! For musical theater kids everywhere who have been eagerly waiting for Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s vocal takes on their iconic “Wicked” roles, look no further because “Wicked: The Soundtrack” has arrived.

The soundtrack includes all 11 songs from Jon M. Chu’s film adaptation of Act 1 of the long-running Broadway musical, including a bonus track “Ozdust Duet.” For over two decades, fans have listened to Kristen Chenoweth and Idina Menzel belt out the show tunes on the original Broadway cast recording, and now they will have the chance to hear the songs anew.

Erivo’s iconic Elphaba battle cry in “Defying Gravity,” Jonathan Bailey’s exciting opt-up in “Dancing Through Life” and Grande’s comedic choices in “Popular” bring new energy to the Broadway staples — but you may miss a couple of your favorite hits in the first film.

The iconic friendship duet between Glinda (Grande) and Elphaba (Erivo), “For Good,...

Smash hit musical Wicked will be available to stream for a premium price this week ahead of a physical media release in February.

Not too many Broadway musicals have had the impact that Wicked has had over the last 20 years or so. With a book by Winnie Holzman based on Gregory Maguire’s novel and taking place both before and around the events of L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz and its iconic 1939 film adaptation, the story follows Elphaba Thropp, a girl born with green skin who will become the Wicked Witch of the West.

She accompanies her paraplegic sister, Nessarose, to Shiz University. On arrival, she accidentally unleashes a burst of magic, attracting the attention of Madame Morrible, who enrols her at the school and forces popular socialite Galinda to share her room, sparking a mutual loathing between the girls. This covers the majority of part one,...

Those who have never seen "The Far Side's" final strip are about to get a whole new appreciation for The Wizard of Oz and its extremely popular musical cousin, Wicked. It's been decades since Gary Larson ended his classic comic strip, but he ended it in a way that puts a hilarious spin on a classic conclusion.

In 1995, Gary Larson published the last strip of "The Far Side's" initial run. The strip's first panel shows a man named Gary who stands in front of a woman waving a magic wand as she tells him that he's always had the power to go home. Surrounding the two are characters and animals often featured in "The Far Side".

The second panel shows Gary in his bed, much like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, where he remarks on the journey he's been on and notes how everyone in his life looks like...

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo opened up about all things Wicked in a new interview with Variety.

During the conversation, Ariana shed light on her belief that Glinda is possibly queer in the musical movie. It’s a concept that both the author of the source material and the film’s scriptwriter have addressed in recent weeks.

According to Ariana, we’ll learn even more in the upcoming sequel Wicked: For Good.

The pop star also addressed changes to her voice to bring the bubbly character to life. She weighed in on if the adjustments were something that would stay with her long term.

Cynthia also discussed making the iconic song “Defying Gravity” her own.

The costars even addressed their salaries for the movies following disproven rumors that Ariana was paid more.

Scroll through the slideshow for the biggest takeaways from the interview…...

Did Ariana Grande manifest the role of Glinda in Wicked? (Photo Credit – Instagram)

It is no secret how much Ariana Grande has loved and manifested the role of Glinda in Wicked. The musical fantasy enjoyed blockbuster success, box office collections, and positive critics reviews when it released in December 2025. The casting of the film, namely Cynthia Erivo and Jonathan Bailey, apart from Grande, was not only greatly appreciated but well-applauded.

During the behind-the-scenes and the confessionals, the pop star revealed just how badly she wanted to portray Glinda. So much so that she stocked up on pink outfits just in case she does land the coveted role. Here’s what the 31-year-old disclosed about her life long dream and her audition for it.

Ariana Grande Stocked On Pink Outfits For The Role Of Glinda

As per People’s exclusive clip from the digital home release of Wicked, Grande went all...

Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenoweth were almost cast as Galinda's parents in 'Wicked'.The two actresses - who originated the roles of Elphaba and Galinda when the iconic musical debuted on Broadway in 2003 - were brought back for a special appearance in the recent blockbuster film adaptation as they performed 'One Short Day' with successors Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.Reflecting on his ideas for the appearance, filmmaker Jon M. Chu told CinemaBlend: "It was a tightrope that we all had to talk about a lot, with Stephen [Schwartz] and Winnie [Holzman] as well, where’s the best place.“And we had them as cameo roles at some point, like, ‘maybe they’re Galinda’s parents’ or ‘maybe they’re this or that.’"And those were all fine and good, but every time we thought of it more, it didn’t feel — they’re at the top of their game right now.

As 2025 kicks off, several book to movie adaptations can be expected to move forward to completion, some with release dates already slated for the quarter century marker.

Audiences looking forward to the fourth Bridget Jones film can anticipate streaming it on Peacock on Valentine’s Day in 2025. Other big name films based on books coming to theaters this year include Mickey17, directed by Bong Joon Ho, Edgar Wright’s The Running Man and Josh Boone’s Regretting You, which will likely follow in the footsteps of the Blake Lively-starring It Ends With Us and further pave a path for future Collen Hoover film adaptations like Verity and Reminders of Him.

Several other big screen adaptations of books are arriving on streamers and in theaters this year. Check out the full list of book to movie adaptations below:

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding – February 14, 2025

Renée Zellweger...

Stephen Schwartz will see you now. The worthier wizard of “Wicked” is the one who wrote one of Broadway’s all-time top song scores and now, a little over two decades later, has overseen the transition of that music into a film that is almost certainly on the fast track for Best Picture contention. He is not the only veteran of the seminal Broadway team on board for the music, either, as the soundtrack finds him rejoined by the stage production’s original arranger and music supervisor, Stephen Oremus.

It’s a world-class Team of Stephens. Beyond having been the primary instigator behind turning “Wicked” into a stage musical (drawn from Gregory Maguire’s book), Schwartz is renowned for winning six Tonys and three Oscars as the composer and/or lyricist of the shows “Pippin” and “Godspell” and films like “Enchanted.” Oremus, meanwhile, is a Tony winner for his orchestrations...

“Wicked” is everywhere.

Since debuting at Thanksgiving, the movie, an adaptation of the blockbuster musical, has earned more than $635 million at the global box office and earned four Golden Globe nominations and eleven Critics’ Choice Award nominations (including Best Picture). It just debuted on digital platforms, too, so if you have someone in your house that is a “Wicked”-head, you’re going to be hearing “Defying Gravity” even more often than before.

And now you can go behind-the-scenes of the movie with a brand-new featurette dedicated to the movie’s director Jon M. Chu. You can watch it below.

“I think back to the moment I first saw ‘Wicked,’ when it was being workshopped in San Francisco 20 years ago. I had a very personal family connection to it watching it with my mother and I was so blown away to learn the backstory of the Wicked Witch. It felt so relevant event back then,...

Timothée Chalamet and Elle Fanning are taking the lyrics from Bob Dylan’s songs and holding space with that.

In a recent interview, the stars of the Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, sat down with journalist Tracy E. Gilchrist, who went viral in November for telling Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo that people were “holding space” for the lyrics of “Defying Gravity,” one of Wicked‘s most beloved songs.

Gilchrist leaned into the meme, starting off by saying, “First off, I just want to let you know that I am holding space for you.”

The pair, who play Dylan and Sylvie Russo in A Complete Unknown, replied by saying they were “starstruck” to see her at the interview. They re-created the moment in Grande and Erivo’s interview, where Grande held onto a single finger of Erivo’s, which earned a laugh from the Advocate journalist.

View this post on...

From the “Defying Gravity” number in Wicked to Paul riding the sandworm in Dune: Part Two, 2024 delivered some mind-blowing movie moments that demanded to be seen on the big screen. In the streaming age, filmmakers are having to push the boat out further and further to get audiences out to theaters. If a movie doesn’t demand to be seen on the big screen, then audiences will wait to watch it at home.

2024 has brought some thrilling action sequences and deeply cinematic imagery that rewarded a trip to the movies. Ridley Scott put hungry sharks in the Colosseum in Gladiator II. Rose Glass made her hero 50 feet tall in Love Lies Bleeding. These movie scenes were the best theatrical experiences of the year.

Sharks In The Colosseum Gladiator II

Historians have questioned the accuracy of Gladiator II’s aquatic set-piece — when a naval battle, complete with shark-infested waters, is...

Timothee Chalamet and Elle Fanning were interviewed by a very familiar face while doing press for their new movie A Complete Unknown!

The two participated in a press junket for the Bob Dylan biopic and in one interview, were greeted by “queer media” journalist Tracy Gilchrist.

Tracy started the interview out by introducing herself and said, “First, I just want to let you know that I am holding space for you.”

Timothee and more-so Elle then proceeded to get “starstruck”!

Keep reading to find out more…

“Thank you,” Elle replies, adding, “I’m starstruck, seeing you walk in.”

Timothee says, “Yeah, I am star struck,” before turning to Elle and holds out his finger as she grabs it with just two of hers. Lol!

They all then proceed to laugh. Check out video below!

Tracy, of course, went viral in November while doing an interview with Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo for Wicked.

A Complete Unknown stars Timothée Chalamet and Elle Fanning got in on the meme fun during a recent interview with reporter Tracy E. Gilchrist. The reporter, who was interviewing them for The Advocate, had the internet in a frenzy in November when she went viral after telling Wicked stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande she was “holding space” for the lyrics of the film’s song “Defying Gravity,” which prompted Grande to hold Erivo’s finger.

“First, I just want to let you know that I am holding space for you,...

With the success of Wicked, the upcoming Wicked: For Good has one big challenge after the first film's best scenes. Since its release on November 22, 2024, Wicked has continued to defy gravity, continuously breaking box office records along the way. Wicked also scored well with critics, most likely securing some nominations for the upcoming Academy Awards. Wicked is a hit on all accounts, which bodes well for Wicked: For Good.

Much to the annoyance of some who didn't pay attention to the marketing, Wicked actually ended up being just the first part of a two-part film, with Wicked Part 2 set to be released on November 21, 2025, once again taking advantage of that pre-Thanksgiving slot. The sequel will obviously cover the second half of the story, picking up right after Wicked's emotional ending, setting the stage for a grand finale. Still, Wicked Part 2 has one major challenge to overcome when it comes out.

If you’re one of the many who caught “Wicked” in a theater, you’ve probably attended a sing-along screening – albeit unintentionally. As a theater kid, I understand both sides; it’s hard not to croon the lyrics to a beloved show but given a choice between hearing you and a Tony winner belt the big number, you can understand why this is annoying to some.

Which is why Universal smartly set up official sing-along showings of “Wicked” starting Christmas Day. I had many questions. Would people sing along if given permission, or is it only the thrill of breaking the rules that appeals to them? What would the lyrics look like onscreen? How would the audience sound? Does it matter that I can’t hit a note to save my life and thus was always cast in the one non-singing role in musicals throughout high school?

Well, I attended the first showing (4 p.

There’s a secret magic hidden just below the surface in the Land of Oz. No, it’s not the Grimmerie, nor even the many aspects of visual design crafted by the production team of “Wicked.” It’s the film’s score, which builds on Stephen Schwartz’s classic Broadway compositions and allows director Jon M. Chu to stretch and extend sequences so cinematic moments can really land. Composer John Powell created these musical bridges across numbers and across the Emerald City, but he got the job without having seen any version of “Wicked” before.

“I knew some of the songs, obviously,” Powell told IndieWire. “One of my first gigs in Hollywood was working on the songs of ‘The Prince of Egypt’ with Stephen [Schwartz] and Hans [Zimmer] and so I had to admit to him that I’d never seen the musical.”

But that outsider perspective was invaluable to the music team on “Wicked,...

If you have been waiting to see “Wicked,” it is coming to digital before the end of 2024!

Today, it was announced that “Wicked” would come to digital on December 31, 2024, and on Blu-Ray, 4K Uhd, and DVD on February 4, 2025.

Fans will be able to purchase the film PVOD on several platforms, including Fandango at Home (Vudu), AppleTV, Comcast Xfinity, Microsoft Movies & TV, and Prime Video.

How much will “Wicked” be on digital?

So far Prime Video has “Wicked” up for pre-order at the price of $29.99. 48 hour rental will likely be an option as well, but we don’t know for sure yet.

Currently the physical media sets are available for pre-order on Amazon. However the dates listed have not been adjusted to the newly announced date yet.

Physical copies range from $19.99 – $29.95 depending on what you choose.

There is a Limited Edition gift set with book ends and more for $239.99 as well.

Based on my highly informal and unscientific research, 2024 has been really tough on most folks. So, what better way to show the last 12 months the door than by spending New Year's Eve watching "Wicked" and joining the citizens of Oz in their rousing rendition of "No One Mourns the Wicked?" If you time things right, you can even usher in 2025 on a note of determined optimism by belting "Defying Gravity" just as the clock strikes midnight. More importantly, if you're unable to make it to an official sing-along screening of the movie, you'll have a way to do so without disrupting the viewing experience for anyone around you.

That's right! Director Jon M. Chu's adaptation of the first half of the Broadway sensation and revisionist take on the world and characters of "The Wizard of Oz"  is heading to the home market just in time to close out this dumpster fire of a year.

Adam McKay has shared his thoughts on Wicked‘s future in the U.S. Recently, the movie musical was briefly banned in Kuwait because of its LGBTQ cast. McKay took to X, formerly Twitter, to say that he “wouldn’t be surprised to see the movie banned in 3-5 years” in the U.S. if “America keeps going on the track it is.”

The director called Wicked “one of the most radical big studio Hollywood movies ever made” and pointed to its storytelling as the reason for a potential ban in the near future.

From “Defying Gravity” in Wicked to “Claw Machine” in I Saw the TV Glow, the movies of 2024 had some unforgettable needle-drops on their soundtracks. It’s been a great year for music at the movies. Dune: Part Two had another classic Hans Zimmer score, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice had another classic Danny Elfman score, and Twisters had an infectious country rock soundtrack.

There have been some really terrific needle-drops on the soundtracks of 2024 movies. Deadpool and Wolverine saved the universe to the tune of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer.” Anora’s greatest day was, appropriately, set to the sounds of Take That’s “Greatest Day.”

"Time Will Crawl" By David Bowie Challengers

One of David Bowie’s most underrated songs, “Time Will Crawl,” can be heard playing during the party scene in Challengers. There’s something really immersive about a diegetic needle-drop; the audience is hearing the same music that the characters are hearing.

One of the most famous Broadway songs ever is “Defying Gravity” from Wicked. Idina Menzel performed the song in the initial production of Wicked, and many people love her version of the song from the musical’s original cast recording. However, Menzel also gave us another rendition of the song that is probably the most misguided cover ever.

Idina Menzel worked with a music legend to make an awful ‘Defying Gravity’

Everyone has covered “Defying Gravity,” including Cynthia Erivo in the 2024 Wicked film adaptation. It’s been done by so many Broadway and West End performers, and there is no shortage of metal covers on YouTube. Some fans even like to combine it with Mendel’s signature song: “Let It Go” from Frozen.

Menzel attempted to transition into the world of top 40 music by putting out an album called I Stand. The record was produced by Glen Ballard, the hitmaker...

Wicked producer Marc Platt and author Gregory Maguire reveal several 1990s stars who wanted to play Glinda and Elphaba. Gregory Maguire's Wicked book was published in 1995, and its success led to a bidding war over the rights among actors who wanted to see it made into a feature-length movie. This bidding war occurred before Wicked became the beloved musical that debuted in 2003 and that is still running on Broadway today.

As shared via Vanity Fair, when Platt joined Universal Pictures, Wicked was initially optioned to Demi Moore's production company, Moving Pictures. This would have included Moore in the role of Elphaba, with Maguire recalling that "I used to say, I can imagine Demi Moore naked and green on the cover of Vanity Fair." At the time, Moore was Hollywood's highest-paid actress and had extensive star power following her roles in A Few Good Men, Indecent Proposal, and Striptease.

Moore's competition included Whoopi Goldberg,...

Warning: this article contains spoilers for the Wicked film and Broadway musical

Wicked was one of the most successful films of 2024, telling the story of Glinda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West when they were simply known as Galinda and Elphaba. The film is based on the Broadway musical of the same name, which was loosely adapted from a 1995 book by Gregory Maguire, inspired by the original Wizard of Oz novel and movie. Wicked has received rave reviews since its release, with a lot of the praise being directed at the film's excellent songs.

The Wicked musical had plenty of iconic songs, and the film has put many of them back at the forefront of everyone's minds, with pieces like "Popular" and "Dancing Through Life" being some of the bigger hits. However, one song has remained the story's defining track —"Defying Gravity," the song at the end of Wicked.

During the year’s final episode of “Saturday Night Live,” cast member Bowen Yang appeared at the “Weekend Update” desk dressed as one of the drones that have been sighted over the skies of New Jersey — which, as co-anchor Michael Che explained, caused the Faa to issue “temporary flight restrictions” over the state.

“Wow, indoors,” Yang said as the drone. “Different.”

“So, how are you?” asked Che. “Or should I say, what are you?”

Yang replied, “No, see, we’re not going to do that. I know what I am, and I don’t have to explain myself to anyone at any time for any reason.”

“Okay, but who’s controlling you?” said Che.

“Who’s controlling you, Michael?” Yang batted back. “People are like, ‘Is it a UFO? Is it a drone? Is it a promo for SNL 50?’ Meanwhile, I’m just minding my own business, hovering over people’s homes,...

In a return to form, Saturday Night Live‘s “Weekend Update” featured Bowen Yang as another aggrieved inanimate object standing up for themselves (hat tip to previous performances as the Titanic iceberg and viral pygmy hippo Moo Deng).

During this week’s final episode of the year, with host Martin Short and musical guest Hozier, Yang portrayed a besieged and mysterious drone flying over New Jersey. Introduced by co-host Michael Che, Yang began without missing a beat, “Hey, wow, indoors — this is different.”

When asked by Che “what” he was exactly, Yang answered: “Ok, no, we’re not gonna do that. See, I know what I am, and I don’t have to explain myself to anyone at any time for any reason.”

He continued, justifying his actions flying high in the sky for no discernible reason: “All y’all hate me ’cause I’m up. Everybody’s like, ‘Is it a UFO,...