First Wicked footage shown at CinemaCon: Ariana Grande will “leave you breathless,” says director
Written by ABC Audio. All rights reserved. on April 28, 2023
On Wednesday, attendees of CinemaCon, the annual Las Vegas convention for movie theater owners, were off to see the wizard — and Ariana Grande — as they got the first glimpse of footage from the movie version of Wicked.
Wicked, a novel by George Maguire, is a revisionist story of the original The Wizard of Oz and details the origins of Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, and Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. Variety reports that the audience was treated to a featurette of rough footage of Ariana as Glinda riding around in a bubble and bonding with Cynthia Erivo‘s Elphaba.
In between clips of the film, director Jon M. Chu is seen, explaining, “Wicked is about change, and it’s necessary for things to get better.” He added that Ariana as Glinda will “leave you breathless” and Cynthia will “break your heart.” He also revealed that in order to invoke Oz, he and the team planted 9 million real tulips.
On his Instagram Stories, Chu shared some tweets from attendees who saw the footage. “Oh my god this is going to be a huge hit,” wrote one. “Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande look stunning and are singing their a**** off,” wrote another. “Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo exude regal musical prowess,” added a third.
The first Wicked film arrives in theaters November 27. The second installment follows on December 25, 2025.
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