Plans are reportedly underway for more films in the Wicked franchise, following the box office success of Wicked: For Good.
Starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, Wicked: For Good is the second half of a two-part adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Wicked, inspired by The Wizard of Oz.
Released last week, the film has proved an unequivocal hit at the box office, and has already made more than $255m (£193m) globally.
In an interview with Vulture, Michael Moses, chief marketing officer for Wicked studio Universal, suggested that the possibility of more films connected to the Wicked universe was currently being explored.
“Because of Wicked’s success but also the fanship, we have almost a responsibility to figure out how we can continue in this universe,” he said. “Have we figured it out yet? No. But there are things underway.”
It’s a sentiment that’s also been echoed by Stephen Schwartz, the composer-lyricist for the original musical.
Speaking to newsletter The Ankler, Schwartz said that he and Tony-winning writer Winnie Holzman (who co-wrote both film adaptations) are “doing some work right now on ideas that aren’t a sequel to Wicked”.
“I think the Glinda and Elphaba story feels complete – but there are other aspects that could be explored,” he added. “Gregory Maguire, the original Wicked novelist, has several books, for example. But there’s another idea that Winnie and I are discussing: not a sequel, but an adjunct. Let me put it that way.”
Despite its commercial success, Wicked: For Good received mixed reviews from film critics.
In a two-star write-up, The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey wrote: ‘If your complaint about last year’s Wicked was that it was so oddly lit that you could barely see what was going on, then fear not – in Wicked: For Good, you won’t mind so much, because there’s so little to look at. Here you’ll find no gallivanting between the whimsical towers of Shiz University, no rambunctious dance breaks, no Ariana Grande swinging from a chandelier.
“The back half of Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman’s musical, adapted from the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire and itself a retelling of The Wizard of Oz that questions the wickedness of the Witch of the West, was always a bit of a slog. And Jon M Chu’s direction, even with all that budget and talent at hand, fails to find a satisfactory fix.”
The film is in cinemas now.
