WICKED Movie Conjures a 2019 Release Date

Hollywood has been attempting to bring the smash Broadway hit Wicked to the big screen as a movie for at least the past six years, and now it finally has a release date. THR reports that the film adaptation will fly onto the big screen on December 20, 2019, which is the perfect spot for a family-friendly movie that should clean up at the box office.

For those of you who don't know, Wicked is an origin story for The Wizard of Oz's Wicked Witch of The West, and a retelling of the classic story from the witch's point of view. It artfully references the events of the main story that are well-known to fans while crafting a whole new narrative that makes you examine the entire thing from a new perspective. It's a great piece of work.

Writer Winnie Holzman and composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz, who both worked on the Broadway show, are reuniting for this production, and though people like J.J. Abrams and Rob Marshall flirted with the directing gig over the years, Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Hours) ultimately ended up snagging that position.

Producer Marc Platt, who once said the goal was to have the musical adaptation in theaters by 2016, has taken his time making sure the script is right before they jump into production. He knows that the show has a tremendous reputation (I've seen it - it lives up to the hype), and doesn't want to make something that will disappoint fans. That's admirable, especially when he could have rushed a movie into production a few years ago at the height of Wicked fever and simply cashed in on the phenomenon.