November 3, 2024 (State Theatre)
November 22, 2024 (United States)
Wicked: Part One (titled on-screen as Wicked: Part I) is a 2024 American musical fantasy film directed by Jon M. Chu and written by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox. It adapts the first act of the 2003 stage musical by Stephen Schwartz and Holzman, which was loosely based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel, a reimagining of L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film adaptation. The film stars Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba Thropp and Ariana Grande as Galinda Upland, with Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum in supporting roles. Set in the Land of Oz before the events of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the film explores the early relationship between Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West, and her dormitory roommate Galinda, who becomes Glinda the Good.
Universal Pictures and Marc Platt, who both produced the stage musical, announced the film adaptation in 2012. After a long development and multiple delays, partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Chu was hired to direct, with Erivo and Grande cast in 2021. The adaptation was split into two parts to avoid omitting plot points and further develop the characters. Principal photography on both films began in England in December 2022, was interrupted in July 2023 by the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, and resumed and concluded in January 2024.
Wicked premiered at the State Theatre in Sydney, Australia on November 3, 2024, and was released in the United States on November 22. It received positive reviews, became a pop culture phenomenon, was named one of the best films of 2024 by the American Film Institute, and won Best Film at the National Board of Review. Among other accolades, it received ten nominations at the 97th Academy Awards (including Best Picture) and won Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. It grossed $759 millionworldwide on a $150 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing Oz film, the highest-grossing musical film adaptation and the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2024. It has been included in lists of the best musical and fantasy films of the 21st century.
The sequel, Wicked: For Good, was released on November 21, 2025.
Storyline
In the Land of Oz, Glinda the Good joins the citizens of Munchkinland as they celebrate the death of the Wicked Witch of the West. When a child asks her why wickedness happens, Glinda deliberates the question by reflecting on the Witch's backstory — born from an affair between the wife of then-Governor Thropp, Melena, and a mysterious traveling salesman, the Witch was ostracized from birth due to her unnaturally green skin (a result of the green elixir the salesman intoxicated Melena with) and impulsive telekinetic powers. When asked if she and the Witch were friends, Glinda admits that they knew each other and explains their past.
Years earlier, Elphaba Thropp arrives at Shiz University to see off her younger sister, Nessarose. Her presence and Nessarose's paraplegia cause the staff to patronise her, to which Elphaba reacts emotionally with an outburst of her powers. Witnessing this, Shiz's Dean of Sorcery Studies, Madame Morrible, offers to enroll and privately tutor Elphaba in sorcery, which she accepts in the hope that it will allow her to accomplish her dream of working with Oz's ruler, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and having him change her skin color. To her discontent, Elphaba is forced to room with the popular and social climbing Galinda Upland, with whom she clashes constantly.
One night, Elphaba follows history professor Dr. Dillamond, an anthropomorphic Goat who faces discrimination as one of Shiz's last Animal professors, to a meeting of Animals off-campus who reveal that other Animals are losing their ability to speak, but Elphaba assures Dillamond the Wizard will set it right. Rebellious transfer student Fiyero Tigelaar takes a group of students to a party at the Ozdust Ballroom nightclub. Galinda convinces her admirer Boq Woodsman, a Munchkin, to invite Nessarose so she can accompany Fiyero. Moved by this, Elphaba persuades a begrudging Morrible to tutor Galinda. Elphaba arrives at the Ozdust and is ridiculed for wearing a pointed hat that Galinda gave her as a joke. Galinda remorsefully dances with her, and the two begin to bond.
Dillamond informs the class that Animals are no longer allowed to teach at Shiz, and is manhandled from the classroom. His replacement, the unscrupulous Professor Nikidik, demonstrates a new contraption — a cage containing a frightened lion cub, designed to prevent Animals from learning to speak. Enraged, Elphaba spins poppy dust over the room, putting everyone except herself and Fiyero to sleep. They escape campus and release the cub into the forest. After sharing a moment, Elphaba laments her unrequited feelings for Fiyero.
Elphaba receives an invitation to meet the Wizard, who has heard of her powers from Morrible, and is accompanied by Galinda, now calling herself "Glinda" in solidarity with Dillamond. They arrive in the Emerald City and are introduced to the Wizard, who they are surprised to find out is an ordinary man. Morrible arrives to witness Elphaba and the Wizard's meeting. At their urging, Elphaba casts a levitation spell from the sacred Grimmerie spellbook that makes the Wizard's monkey guards painfully sprout wings. As the Wizard and Morrible rejoice over their newfound ability to use the monkeys as spies, Elphaba realizes that they are the ones behind the Animals' oppression and that the fraudulent Wizard, lacking any real magic of his own, used her to further subjugate them. The Wizard admits to using the Animals as scapegoats to unify the people of Oz. Horrified, Elphaba steals the Grimmerie and flees.
At Morrible's urging, Glinda follows Elphaba and implores her to stop, but Elphaba refuses while Morrible makes propaganda denouncing her. She repeats the levitation spell on a broom and escapes the city. Glinda supports her, but declines to accompany her. The two share an emotional farewell before Glinda is apprehended by guards. Fiyero leaves Shiz on horseback amidst a mass evacuation while Governor Thropp suffers a heart attack as he and Nessarose receive the news. Elphaba flies west, leaving Glinda behind as Morrible hugs the latter.
Also See
Movie Trailer
- Wicked (2024) (Trailers)
Sound Effects Used
- Hollywoodedge, Baby Moaning Pleasur PE144501
- Hollywoodedge, Baby Vocals Playful PE145101
- Hollywoodedge, Baby Whining Short Cr PE144101
- Hollywoodedge, Crowd Med Shock PE961301/Crowd Reaction Shock PE142501 (Heard twice.)
- Hollywoodedge, Forest Ambience Bird PE010101 (Heard briefly.)
- SKYWALKER, BELL - BELL CHIMES RINGING
- SKYWALKER, BELL - MAGIC SLEIGH BELLS RINGING
- SKYWALKER GEAR STICK SOUNDS
- SKYWALKER, METAL - PROTOCOL DROID MOVING
- SKYWALKER, MUSIC - DEEP, OMINOUS BASS TONE
- SKYWALKER, TOY - LENNY FOOTSTEPS
- SKYWALKER, WIND - HEAVY WIND WHISTLING
- SKYWALKER, WIND SOUNDS
- SKYWALKER, WHOOSH - BIG WHOOSH ELEMENTS
- Sound Ideas, AMBIENCE, FOREST - FOREST, SPOOKY NIGHT
- Sound Ideas, Crying Small Child - Small, female child crying and screaming, "I don't want it" (Crying only.)
- Sound Ideas, FIREWORKS - SEQUENCE OF FIREWORKS, EXPLOSION (Heard once at the end of the song "One Short Day".)
- Sound Ideas, HORSE - EXTERIOR: WHINNY, ANIMAL 06
- Sound Ideas, HUMAN, CRACK - KNUCKLES: FAST CRACKING
- Sound Ideas, TRAIN, STEAM - WHISTLE, MANY BLASTS, CLOSE UP
- Sound Ideas, TRAIN, STEAM - WHISTLE, SINGLE, DISTANT