Gregory Maguire: Last News

Years before Wicked became a musical on Broadway, there were discussions to turn the story into a movie and it would have been so different than the musical we all love and know.

Wicked soundtrack on vinyl, which released in tandem with the film on last November, is back on the charts following Cynthia Erivo’s gravity-defying performance (sorry), alongside Ariana Grande, at the Oscars on Sunday night. The soundtrack is available in various formats including CD, double vinyl, double picture disc, and digital. Target and Barnes & Noble also offer exclusive editions including split pink and green vinyl, plus an alternative cover.

Peacock announced this morning that Universal Pictures‘ musical sensation Wicked, starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, will begin streaming exclusively on the service beginning March 21, along with the Sing-Along version and other bonus content. 

Matt Minton mminton@variety.com With the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz” forever ingrained in pop culture history, seven-time Oscar-nominated production designer Nathan Crowley knew it was the necessary starting place to develop “Wicked.” At the Variety FYC screening presented by Universal, Crowley told Clayton Davis, Variety’s senior awards editor, about his close collaboration with director Jon M. Chu, who recently won the Critics Choice Award for best director. “He really wanted to push the design as far as he could into this magical place with building the sets.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic 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.

Wicked” earlier this week on social media but said that its “radical” subject matter could lead the movie musical to get banned.“On a pure storytelling level ‘Wicked Part 1’ is right up there as one of the most radical big studio Hollywood movies ever made,” McKay wrote on X. “I know ‘Part 2’ swings back to the center a bit but ‘Part 1‘ is nakedly about radicalization in the face of careerism, fascism, propaganda.”He went on to compare the project, which stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, to a slew of self-described “radical” films, including “Bridge on the River Kwai,” “The Sound of Music,” “The Hunger Games,” and “Citizen Kane.”“What’s really striking about ‘Wicked Part 1’ is that it’s coming out NOW when America has never been more right wing and propagandized,” continued McKay.

according to The Numbers.The action adventure, which The Post called “much easier to swallow than the first sequel,” is based on the Sega video game series.Its star-studded cast includes Jim Carrey, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and James Marsden.The $122 million-dollar production is slated to earn $70.5 million this weekend, according to Deadline.Landing in second place was “Mufasa: The Lion King,” with earnings of $13.3 million on its opening day.The musical drama, produced by Walt Disney Pictures, is a prequel and sequel to 2019’s “The Lion King,” which was a remake of the original 1994 animated Disney movie.The Post said the “totally unnecessary, boring sequel shows the repetitive Circle of Life at Disney.”Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, Donald Glover and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter all reprised their roles in the follow-up flick, and Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, joined the cast. It is expected to take in up to $38 million its opening weekend, Deadline reported.“Wicked” came in third on its fifth Friday in theaters, with a $3.72 million dollar take.This week, Vanity Fair reported that the movie, based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel “Wicked,” was originally considered in the late 1990s — when it may have starred Demi Moore and other notable names.“People who had expressed an interest in the first six months included Whoopi Goldberg and Claire Danes,” Maguire told the outlet.

Long before Wicked made the jump from stage to screen, the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel had Hollywood in a frenzy.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director The “Wicked” movie is a box office powerhouse with $530 million and counting at the global box office. It’s also a critical darling, earning rave reviews and Oscar buzz for its leading ladies Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. But what if “Wicked” was originally made decades ago with Demi Moore as the green-skinned Elphaba? A new report from Vanity Fair dives into the first attempts to bring “Wicked” to the big screen in the late 1990s.

Jon M. Chu’s second Wicked film, previously known as Wicked Part 2, has now been titled Wicked: For Good.

Although their onscreen counterparts don’t always see eye to eye, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo have had each other’s backs from the beginning of their Wicked journey.

As Wicked continues to cast a spell on the box office, Kristin Chenoweth is calling out an attempted witch hunt on the movie.

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series spotlighting the scripts behind awards season’s most talked-about movies continues with Wicked, Universal’s blockbuster musical movie from director Jon M. Chu. Adapted from Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West — about the untold stories of the witches of Oz, set in the years before Dorothy dropped in via L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz — the screenplay was penned by original Broadway musical book writer Winnie Holzman and Cruella co-scribe Dana Fox.

EXCLUSIVE: “Unlimited”, Cynthia Erivo sings, “My future is unlimited.” The lyrics  from The Wizard and I, a number from the musical Wicked, tumble sweetly, melodically – effortlessly – from her mouth. Such a moment could not have happened 10, 15 or even 20 years ago, because, the star reveals: “I was not ready.”

Gregory Maguire, the author of “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” is clearing up any questions about Glinda and Elphaba’s sexuality.

“Wicked” has been removed from cinema listings in Kuwait on the eve of its local theatrical release, Variety has confirmed, becoming the latest Hollywood import to be banned in the Gulf state. The country previously banned “Barbie” to protect “public ethics.” Some local media have speculated that the decision was prompted by the fact that the Universal Pictures’ critically-acclaimed musical boasts an LGBTQ cast. “Wicked,” Jon M.

When it came to her take on Glinda, Ariana Grande didn’t want to stray too far from the original.

Wicked has said that the film’s upcoming sequel is “eight times more relevant” because of where we are “in society right now”.Wicked hit cinemas in the UK and US on Friday (November 22), and is predicted by cinema bosses to be the biggest film of the year.The film is based on the hit stage musical, which itself was based on Gregory Maguire’s book of the same name. It acts as a prequel to 1939’s The Wizard Of Oz film and explores the backstory of how Glinda The Good Witch, played by Ariana Grande, and The Wicked Witch Of The West, helmed by Cynthia Erivo, came to be.So far, Wicked follows the same beats as the stage musical and ends at the interval, with Elphaba turning down The Wizard’s offer of a partnership after finding out he oppresses certain corners of the Emerald City to stay in power.Wicked Part Two is now slated for a cinema release on November 21 2025, and you can check out everything we know about it so far, here.On stage, the darker second act of Wicked sees Elphaba hunted by The Wizard and his forces.

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major spoilers for plot points, cameos and the ending of “Wicked,” now playing in theaters, as well as minor spoilers for the “Wicked” stage show. It’s time to rejoicify! It’s been 21 years since the smash hit musical “Wicked” premiered on Broadway, and fans can finally watch the tale of two witches (at least, the first half of it) on the big screen in a larger-than-life film adaptation from director Jon M. Chu for Universal. The “Wicked” movie, which stars Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda, is chock full of thrillifying nods to its many pieces of source material — and makes some notable changes from the stage version.

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “Wicked,” now playing in theaters. Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth have found their way back to Oz. Broadway’s original witches make a surprise appearance in director Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked,” but not as Elphaba and Glinda.

Wicked by the self-proclaimed princess of “Popular,” Galinda, and it applies to people, places, films, film reviews, and the musical Wicked.Over the course of the show’s journey through Oz, Galinda eventually becomes Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, sworn foe of the Wicked Witch of the West, Elphaba, formerly her friend.The Tony-winning tale of their rivalry turned friendship turned feud, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by Winnie Holzman, adapts the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire (itself a riff on the Oz characters created by L. Frank Baum, and made iconic in the 1939 MGM musical) into a teenage fantasy-romance promoting tolerance, individuality, and female empowerment.Opening on Broadway in 2003, the show is still running, the national tour and international productions still sell out, and the fanbase is fervently anticipating the big-budget film adaptation directed by Jon M.