‘Wicked’ gets new release date due to unexpected reason

Universal Pictures has moved up the release date of the highly anticipated film adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked to November 22, a few days earlier than its initial schedule.

Directed by Jon M. Chu and starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, the movie will now have a chance to generate buzz before the holiday season and avoid direct competition with Disney's Moana 2.

It will now go up against Gladiator II from Paramount, which opens in theatres on November 22 and stars Paul Mescal in Ridley Scott's follow-up to his 2000 historical epic that won an Oscar.

Wicked is a stage adaptation of the Tony-winning Broadway musical of the same name. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, written by Gregory Maguire, was first published in 1995.

The project is an adaptation of characters from the Oscar-winning 1939 film musical The Wizard of Oz, which starred Judy Garland as Dorothy and was based on L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

In addition to Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Jeff Goldblum, and Bowen Yang, the film stars Grande as Glinda and Erivo as Elphaba.

Marc Platt and David Stone serve as producers.

“We dreamed very, very, very big for Wicked,” Chu told the CinemaCon crowd when debuting footage at the Las Vegas event in April.

“A magical land of sights and sounds that will astonish, and performances that will lift your spirits and occasionally break your heart.”

The movie is the first installment of a two-part adaptation, with the sequel, Wicked: Part Two, slated for release on November 26, 2025.