On November 22, 2024, Wicked took over the silver screen and performed spectacularly. Earning a rotten tomatoes score of 89% and an audience score of 96%, both critics and casual moviegoers alike loved this film. Wicked incorporated a well known cast including Ariana Grande as Glinda (the Good Witch), Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West), Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, and Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard of Oz. Wicked smashed the box office, grossing over $350 million across the globe, making it the highest grossing movie based on a Broadway play to date.
Wicked creates a feeling of nostalgia for its original fans, who saw the musical run from October of 2003 to its 20th anniversary in October of 2023. Director Jon M. appeals to a wide variety of audiences through his creativity in storytelling, along with his touch of innocence and nostalgia. The story follows Elphaba, a green skinned scholar attending Shiz University, where she meets her roommate Glinda. Elphaba and Glinda clash at first, but later become good friends. Eventually, Elphaba discovers the Wizard of Oz and his crimes against the animals of Oz. Because she refused to conform to both the Wizard and Madame Morrible’s manipulation, Elphaba became an enemy of her state
Wicked tackles the common question, “Are people born evil?” The film ignites the theory through Elphaba’s positive demeanor throughout the plot, such as her care for her wheelchair bound sister, which contradicts her eventual transition of becoming the Wicked Witch. Elphaba’s growing resentment towards Oz’s evil schemes begins to show through her speech, “No good deed goes unpunished”[Elphaba] and “I’m through accepting limits ‘cause someone says they’re so”[Elphaba]. Declarations such as these show Elphaba’s discontent with the Wizard of Oz and his machinations.
Just weeks after its release, on December 9, Golden Globe recognized Wicked’s brilliance with nominations in four different categories: Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture, Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture, Best Motion Picture, and Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. Overall, Wicked takes an amazing Broadway spectacle and moves it onto the big screen with excellence, providing a new insight into the story of the “Wicked” Witch. Jon M. Chu did a magnificent job at making the film truly “Defy Gravity.” Instead of using CGI, the set designers grew nine million tulips specifically for the setting of Emerald city. The director made the film with the goal of honoring the original Broadway show, especially by including an unexpected appearance of the original stars, Kristin Chenoweth (G) and Idina Menzel (E). Wicked undeniably reached its goal and then some, earning itself a bewitching score of 9.4/10.
