Deadline reports that Universal Pictures has moved the second half of Jon Chu's upcoming big screen adaptation of Wicked from December 25 , 2025 to November 26, 2025. In both movies, the cast will be led by Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba.
This shift means that, instead of opening on Christmas Day, the movie will play over the Thanksgiving Holiday.
Why? Well, that particular holiday gives event movies like this one a greater amount of time to build an audience as the year winds down and is also beneficial from a consumer products standpoint.
Wicked, the untold story of the witches of Oz, stars Erivo as Elphaba, a defiant social outcast who has yet to discover her true power, and Grande as Glinda, a popular young woman, gilded by privilege and ambition, who has yet to discover her true heart.
As the two women forge an unlikely sisterhood, they will empower each other in ways that neither foresees. But as dark forces of prejudice and oppression loom on the horizon, the choices they make will separate them, and will set them on different destinies that will change them, and Oz, for good.
Chu's take on Wicked (which premiered on Broadway in 2003) will also star Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard, Michelle Yeoh as Madam Morrible, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Bowen Yang as Pfannee, and Marissa Bode as Nessarose. Bronwyn James, Keala Settle, Aaron Teoh, and Colin Michael are set to appear in supporting roles.
The filmmaker is no stranger to musicals after adapting Lin Manuel Miranda's In the Heights and is working from a screenplay penned by Stephen Schwartz (who wrote the original music and lyrics) and Winnie Holzman.
Talking at CinemaCon back in April, he told those in attendance that Grande will "leave you breathless" and Erivo will "break your heart." Needless to say, expectations are high and we'd like to think this won't be another Cats!
Wicked is set to be released in theaters on November 27, 2024, while the second instalment will follow on December 25 November 26, 2025.