It’s been over a year since we last heard about the movie adaptation of Wicked, but we’re happy to report we just got our first official news about the film on Thursday. The studio is giving the potential blockbuster a fitting place at the peak of holiday box office on December 20, 2019.
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Based on the global best-selling novel by Gregory Maguire that ingeniously re-imagined the stories and characters created by L. Frank Baum in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Wicked tells the incredible untold story of an unlikely but profound friendship between two sorcery students.
The musical opened in 2003 and is said to have been seen by some 50 million people.
The film will be directed by Stephen “Billy Elliot” Daldry (whose other film credits include The Hours and The Reader).
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Universal Pictures made a decision to surprise fans out of the blue with an announcement on Twitter this morning, revealing that Wicked: The Movie will be flying into theaters in time for… It was previously turned into a Broadway show by book writer Winnie Holzman composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, who will also work together on the film. It’s a release date that makes sense considering the family-friendly spectacle of the story, however, it also pits Wicked in direct competition with one of Disney’s yet-to-be-revealed live-action fairy tale films so we could be in for a bit of a box office battle royale. The musical has earned more than $2 billion over the past 10 years.
