In December 2024, “Wicked” director Jon M. Chu announced that a second movie would be released Nov. 21, 2025. Fans were thrilled to see the year-long wait between “Wicked: Part I,” released in 2024, and “Wicked: For Good” finally come to an end.
In October, Amazon Prime announced its members-only “Wicked: For Good” early screening, and tickets were selling rapidly. Although during production of Wicked: Part 1 and Wicked: For Good singers Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, who play Elphaba and Glinda in the film, started becoming best friends. They started filming both “Wicked” films in 2022, and the actors gradually grew more comfortable as filming took until 2024. Both movies are two to three hours long, and a back-to-back screening in theaters would be at least five hours due to intermission and movie previews.
“Wicked: For Good” has some fantastic reviews online and many fans were thrilled to attend the premiere when the film was released. Some fans sang along to “Wicked: Part 1” because they came out with “Wicked: Sing Along” in theaters and later on Peacock. Although the musical of Wicked opened on Broadway in 2003, many of the newer fans were able to see how the characters they came to know and love in the first film transformed to parallel the original story seen in the 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
Sadly, the “Wicked” films got some backlash due to the female actors being perceived as too skinny and unhealthy, with fans speculating that this movie made both Erivo and Grande unhealthier than before, and many fans became concerned about their health. However, filming a movie occasionally requires dieting due to role requirements, the loss of weight doesn’t automatically indicate unhealthiness.
After the “Wicked” films, Erivo and Grande have stayed close as friends. “Wicked: For Good” was meant to change fans for good because it is the end of the yellow brick road, and the journey truly changed its fans for the better. After a first watch, many viewers won’t want to leave Oz.
