Jon M.Chu: Last News

The National Board of Review just announced the winners of the 2024 NBR Awards with Wicked winning some of the top awards.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Universal Pictures’ blockbuster musical “Wicked” has been named best picture by the National Board of Review, the organization announced on Wednesday, in addition to taking home the directing prize for Jon M. Chu and a special award for the collaboration of stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.

“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.

Camila Cabello has praised Wicked stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo while sharing a cover from the hit musical.Grande stars as Glinda, the future Good Witch of the North, while Erivo plays green-skinned witch Elphaba in the new film – the first of a two-part adaptation of the hit stage musical.The Jon M Chu-directed movie, which also stars Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh, Peter Dinklage and Jeff Goldblum, hit cinemas last month and was predicted by experts to be the biggest film of the year.Although the musical failed to match the ‘Barbenheimer’ phenomenon at box office, it still fared extremely well – raking in $114million (£90.6million) domestically and $164.2million (£130.5million) globally for Universal Pictures on its debut, according to studio estimates.Critics were quick to praise the vocal performances of its two leads, with Nick Levine noting that “Erivo and Grande are both vocally extraordinary” in NME‘s four-star review of Wicked, adding that “crucially, they also have crackling chemistry punctuated by Erivo’s bursts of intensity and Grande’s slick comic timing”.Cabello has now joined the scores of fans praising their efforts, and over the weekend shared a black-and-white video singing the film’s signature ballad, ‘Defying Gravity’.“You were brilliant Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo,” she captioned an Instagram story, which has since recirculated on X/Twitter.

Wicked has another sales record to add to its growing list: The film soundtrack has debuted at the #2 spot on the Billboard 200 chart, the highest debut for a big-screen adaptation of a stage musical ever.

Marissa Bode is teasing differing plot points of the second Wicked movie.

As Wicked continues to fuel an online storm of memes, one cast member is drawing a line in regards to ableist comments.

Warning: Wicked spoilers ahead…but, like, only if you've never seen The Wizard of Oz.Musical movie , starring and , is undoubtedly one of the biggest cinematic events of the year, making us even more excited for the second half of –which is due for release in November 2025.Before part two rolls around, we need to know: Who will play Wizard of Oz star and protagonist Dorothy? After all, Wicked's entire story was inspired by events in The Wizard of Oz, and Dorothy plays a key part in the “demise” of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West.But we're getting ahead of ourvelves. In Wicked we got a very brief glimpse of Dorothy and co—the Tin Man, the Lion and the Scarecrow—as the movie introduced us to Munchkinland, Oz, and the Yellow Brick Road, which we see our favourite Oz characters embarking down.More than 30 wigs, custom green body makeup, and hours in the makeup chair brought Elphaba and Glinda to the big screen.Dorothy's arrival in Oz sadly leads to the death of Elpahaba's sister Nessarose, the “Wicked Witch of the East.” In fact, Dorothy's house lands on her, and the young girl even steals the witch's ruby red slippers in the original film–no wonder Elphaba wants revenge, really.When asked by about Dorothy's role in the Wicked musical movie, director Jon M.

During the course of a record Thanksgiving weekend, Universal’s Wicked: Part One has become the highest grossing movie ever at the domestic box office based on a Broadway musical.

Happy Friday, Insiders. Jesse Whittock back in a week where the box office proved beyond all doubt that it is alive and kicking. All the big film and TV news from the international sphere follows. Sign up for the newsletter here.

Ariana Grande landed her dream role when she was cast as Glinda in the big-screen adaptation of Wicked, and she took her commitment to the part very seriously.

As the world continues to fly high on Glicked, Paul Mescal is reaching across the aisle and giving a round of applause.

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

Ariana Grande is not that girl.The Grammy winner, 31, isn’t looking to change the long-beloved song “Popular” from “Wicked” despite being pitched a different and new version of the tune.“In the spirit of being open to new things for the movie, my music team and I thought, let’s refresh the rhythm. Let’s, maybe, I don’t know, hip-hop it up a little bit,” the film’s composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times on Monday.

EXCLUSIVE: We’re not even past Thanksgiving, and the box office is already busting at the seams. Tonight, I hear that Disney’s PG-rated Moana 2, which started previews at 2PM, is heading to around $12M+ today. That’s a massive Tuesday pre-Thanksgiving preview record for the House of Mouse, beating previous champ, 2018’s Ralph Breaks the Internet by an exorbitant amount of cash (that sequel did $3.8M). Tonight’s dollars get rolled into Wednesday’s dough. The sequel is expected to rake in a Thanksgiving 5-day opening record of $125M-$135M. Disney didn’t return request for comment on tonight’s estimates. In fact, no studios did.

Dorothy is seen in the opening moments of Wicked: Part One and she seemingly will have a significant role in the next movie, but who is going to play her?

Universal made the unusual move of publicly addressing online speculation about pay disparity between its Wicked stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter “Wicked” stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were paid the same amount for leading the movie musical, Universal Pictures said in a rare statement on such a matter, to dispel online rumors about salary discrepancies. False stories about Grande and Erivo’s compensation for their work on “Wicked” circulated over the weekend as outlets like the New York Post reported on unsubstantiated claims by TikTok and Reddit users that Grande earned $15 million to play Glinda the Good while Erivo was paid $1 million to portray Elphaba, the eventual Wicked Witch of the West.

“Jeopardy!” viewers were not pleased with the 50-year-old host during a recent episode.Paul Clauson, a tax analyst from Madison Heights, Mich., returned to the game hoping to extend his one-day earnings of $15,201. He went up against product manager Jonelle Lonergan from Boston, Mass., and Amy Fleenor, an attorney from Cleveland, Ohio.Jennings introduced the first batch of categories in the “Jeopardy!” round, which included a special nod to the newly released “Wicked” movie.The film’s stars, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, introduced the category to the contestants before the project’s director Jon M.

Glinda the Good Witch and Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West.Multiple outlets have reported that Grande, making her lead role film debut, was paid $15 million for her role in the movie. That’s 15 times as much as Erivo’s rumored paycheck of $1 million.As anyone who saw the wild scenes atWicked’s world premiere in Sydney earlier this month will attest, Grande brings a built-in fanbase from her hugely successful decade-long music career that the film’s producers no doubt thought was worth the extra investment.But perhaps more surprising is that several supporting cast members reportedly also earned bigger paychecks than Erivo for their smaller roles: Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum were rumored to have been paid $2 million each to play Madame Morrible and the Wizard of Oz respectively.Another of the film’s key supporting cast members, British actor Jonathan Bailey, is reported to have been paid $450,000 to play love interest Fiyero.Wicked is already a confirmed box office smash, raking in more than $10.3 million here in Australia during its first five days in cinemas.

AMC Theatres,the biggest circuit globally, posted the highest domestic revenue in its 104-year history for a pre-Thanksgiving weekend counting admissions, food and beverage, and merchandise.