Wicked Movie Director Jon M. Chu Shares First Look at Cynthia Erivo’s Glinda and Ariana Grande’s Elphaba

Wicked director Jon M. Chu has shared the first look at the upcoming big-screen adaptation of the classic Oz tale in the form of Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba and Ariana Grande’s Glinda.

Chu took to Twitter to share the images and, while they are a bit dark, they do show Erivo’s Elphaba a.k.a. the Wicked Witch of the West and her iconic witch hat and broom and Grande’s Glinda in a flowing pink dress that is also reminiscent of the one seen in the Wizard of Oz.

You weren’t told the whole story. What happens when you veer off the Yellow Brick Road? Here is your very FIRST LOOK of #WickedMovie … currently in production in Oz. ?️??@WickedMovie @UniversalPics pic.twitter.com/pKdTTmi6kD

— Jon M. Chu (@jonmchu) April 16, 2023

“You weren’t told the whole story. What happens when you veer off the Yellow Brick Road? Here is your very FIRST LOOK of #WickedMovie … currently in production in Oz,” Chu wrote.

The Wicked film is – stick with us – an adaptation of the 2003 Broadway musical with music and lyrics from Stephen Schwartz and book by Winnie Holzman. The play is based on the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Time of the Wicked Witch of the West, and that is a prequel of sorts for L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the 1939 film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

The story of Wicked is told from the perspective of these two witches and, according to the musical’s homepage, “Wicked looks at what happened in the land of Oz – but from a different angle. There is a young woman, born with emerald-green skin – smart fiery, misunderstood, and possessing an extraordinary talent. When she meets a bubbly blonde who is exceptionally popular, their initial rivalry turns into the unlikeliest of friendships, until the world decides to call one good and the other wicked.”

Wicked will actually become two films, and the first movie is set to be released in theaters on July 27, 2024. The second film should arrive a year later.

While we have yet to see him, it has been reported that Jeff Goldblum will be playing the Wizard of Oz.

Wicked’s script will be written by Holzman and Schwartz will handle the screenplay. Marc Platt, who produced the Broadway show, will be a producer on the film.

If you want an idea of Chu’s directing style before Wicked is released, be sure to check out our review of In the Heights, which was another movie that was adapted from a play.

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.