by Nathaniel R
Though we've been anxiously awaiting the Wicked movie for (checks IBDB) 18 years, 6 months, and 6 days, we are suddenly dreading it. We were fairly pleased with the casting and the director choice but this new information is a major red flag. In keeping with Hollywood's money-grubbing franchise mania in which they attempt to wrestle as much money from consumers as possible even if they have to pad the stories or extend them well past their breaking point -- popularized by finales that were cleaved in half to guarantee an extra billion in ticket revenue (see Twilight and Harry Potter) or three movies based on a single book (The Hobbit) -- they've decided to make Wicked a two part movie.
Director Jon M Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights) writes...
This is the worst movie idea we've heard in many months. Though Wicked is a deservedly popular Broadway show, netting literally billions upon billions in revenue, it is far from perfect. In fact we'd argue that the biggest problem with the show is that there's already too much of it. It is weighed down by too many extraneous characters and multiple weak subplots and a few filler songs. The heart of the show and ALL of its best scenes and songs are focused on the relationship between Glinda and Elphaba before they were "The Good Witch" and "The Wicked Witch". The Broadway show runs about 150 minutes once you subtract the intermission. Given that today's blockbusters often run about exactly that long you could literally transfer it intact without cutting anything.
Not that you should! The stage and the cinema are two different art forms. But in reality it's easier to tell stories with the cinema since you can include much more information in a single image. Still the point is that the basis of this letter above is a lie given Wicked's very typical movie length in its current form.
Unless there's been a decree from the studio that the Wicked movie must run 90 minutes -- and there's about a 0% probability of that since studios no longer balk at movies that run well over two hours -- they wouldn't actually have to cut anything. This means they will keep the weak stuff. Can we have a collective sigh? Now think of all the padding they will have to add to justify almost doubling Wicked's current length!
What would you cut to make Wicked better? And given that they're going to add at least an hour to the musical as is, what would you now include to improve it?