Film News

Wicked Movie News? In Honor of the Musical's 11th-Anniversary Month, Here Are Some Updates

It has to happen eventually, right?

Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth recreate the famous Wicked logo artwork at the musical's Broadway opening-night party in 2003.
Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth re-create the famous Wicked logo artwork at the musical's Broadway opening-night party in 2003.
(© Joseph Marzullo)

The juggernaut Broadway musical Wicked celebrated its 11th anniversary at the Gershwin Theatre on October 30. We felt this as an appropriate reason (along with today being Halloween, duh) to check on progress about a potential film adaptation.

"The movie isn't official yet, but the movie will happen," book writer Winnie Holzman told TheaterMania in June of this year. "We are, after all, produced by a movie company."

Songwriter Stephen Schwartz recently told the Hartford Courant newspaper that movie negotiations are underway, with Stephen Daldry, the maestro behind The Hours and Billy Elliot, in talks to direct.

And who could forget how there are two very viable leads in original cast members Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth. Except that they've already been told they're too old. Seriously. This is a thing that actually happened, as Menzel revealed in a 2010 discussion. "I have an idea for them," she said. "Why don't we do it like Avatar and there could be this beautiful green creature with the essence of me and my voice?"

But is it actually happening? According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), there's been no update from producer Marc Platt Productions February 14, 2014 when it was listed as still in-development (and rumored to star Lea Michele of Glee and Spring Awakening and Harry Styles of the band One Direction, yeah, right).

So, eventually. Maybe. Probably. One thing's for certain: Whenever it happens, it'll be very, very popular. Until then, see it on Broadway.

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