"Finally! 'Wicked' to Get a Movie Makeover"

[Hannah]

It wasn't too long ago that I was talking about how Jersey Boys should be adapted (http://www.cinematical.com/2008/06/04/fan-rant-hey-hollywood-give-us-a-jersey-boys-movie/) for the big screen. In that same post (and in another one as well (http://www.cinematical.com/2006/07/06/will-wicked-make-it-to-the-big-screen/)), I said how Wicked was one of Broadway's best (if not the best) and yet it still hadn't gone the movie-musical route. Fans of the musical finally have a chance to rejoice, however, because Variety (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117988927.html?categoryid=13&cs=1)tells us that as part of producer Marc Platt's (Wanted) new, extended five-year contract with Universal, he'll be working on a movie version of Wicked, along with a sequel to Wanted and a remake of the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar.

Here's what Uni's production president Donna Langley had to say about Wicked: "Our goal now is absolutely to make the 'Wicked' film, but much like Judy Craymer wouldn't give up screen rights to 'Mamma Mia!' until the stage show had reached its pinnacle, Marc and Stephen Schwartz are very mindful of the right timing. But we're dying to do it." Wicked, for those not in the know, is based on the best-selling novel about the two witches in the Land of Oz -- Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda, the Good Witch of the North -- and is set mostly before The Wizard of Oz, kinda like a prequel. It'd also be an interesting adaptation because there's that fantasy element that hasn't really been present in the last round of movie-musicals; thus, I'll be curious to see how they pull this one off.

What say you? Is it time for Wicked to hit the big screen? Down for Wanted 2? Itching for more Jesus Christ Superstar?
http://www.cinematical.com/2008/07/15/finally-wicked-to-get-a-movie-makeover/



Aren't we all excited?

[Raph's Girl]

YES!!! A theatrical version of Wicked!!! Im soo in line for that!!

As for the others...there's already been several remakes of Jesus Christ Superstar.... :P

And they've said for a while that Wanted's gonna be a trillogy

[Drtooth]

I heard a rumor they wanted to try this in animation. But that was a couple years ago, well before this came to rights.

I still think The PRoducers got the short end of the stick as far as Musicals into movies goes. It got some crazy limited release in arthouse movie theaters, and as they were inaccessable, it tanked.

And will the get the original principles to perform their roles? or will the go Hairspray and get bigger name celebs?

I'm not too big on musicals at all, and any knowledge of them I blame on my mother listening to College radio broadway shows when I was younger... but I wouldn't be objected to seeing Wicked as a film. I mean, 10 bucks verses 100.... you lose the feel of the performers being right their in front of you, but you still get to experiance the story.

And personally, that's what counts for me. I heard the music everywhere, one random song at a time, but I never peiced them together. I'm itching to see what's really going on.

I just hope they keep the thing as dark as I heard it was.

[Jester]

Now if only they'd do a movie version of Avenue Q, I love you, your perfect, now change, and (doubtful) Spamalot, and I'd be happy!

[Drtooth]

Now if only they'd do a movie version of Avenue Q, I love you, your perfect, now change, and (doubtful) Spamalot, and I'd be happy!


Once again, in an interview for the PlayBill for Spamalot, it was said that they could never make it a movie, since Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a film that is held in high reguard.

Anyway, I'd love to see an Avenue Q movie. I was going to see the musical, but it came out the same time as a convention I wanted to go to, and I didn't have the money to go to both. Plus, the convention was 50 bucks for 3 days, and the musical is 100 bucks, so my genuine Cheapness told me to do the other thing.

[Roseangelo]

Anyway, I'd love to see an Avenue Q movie. I was going to see the musical, but it came out the same time as a convention I wanted to go to, and I didn't have the money to go to both. Plus, the convention was 50 bucks for 3 days, and the musical is 100 bucks, so my genuine Cheapness told me to do the other thing.

Rush tickets my friend, rush tickets.

I don't know how available they'd be for those big shows, but back in high school my friends and I got front row seats for a production at the local Big playhouse for $10/each. Score.

I've had Wicked on my bookshelf since before it became a musical, but I still haven't read it. Gotta do that...

[Voltron]

I've met people who say that there are fates worse than death. I used to think it was something awful, like going deaf and never hearing the voice of your loved ones, or a beautiful poem, or the soothing hush of a gentle ocean wave being dragged out to sea.

Now I know the horrors of unwittingly walking head on into books like Wicked, where nothing happens for 200 pages. Surely, we gaze now not at the performing arts, but at the very face of Pestilence himself. A black horse rides among us, my friends.